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Stories / Stories / Steve Doyle / Text 35 of 45 / The Note in the Bottle

"The Note in the Bottle" by Steve Doyle

SciFi/Fantasy text 35 out of 45 by Steve Doyle. ←Previous - Next→

This has basis in an actual event. The Mary Celeste was a ship that embarked from New York to Italy in 1872. She was later found completely seaworthy but without a soul aboard. For more on this see: http://www.deafwhale.com/maryceleste/

←- My Mistake | The Pasture -→

The Note in the Bottle

Out in my fishing boat I saw something afloat.

Up from the water I pulled a bottle

And from the bottle a cork.

With a trembling hand I unrolled the note.

November 25, 1872

We beseech ye who hold this note:

We are 10 of us stranded in a tiny lifeboat

Drifting helplessly North by Northwest

The hapless passengers of the Mary Celeste

Briggs

The Mary Celeste had been found adrift

With not a single soul upon the ship.

As to what had happened to Captain and crew

There had never been the slightest clue.

As I glanced up from the note I saw---

A boatload of people on the water.

One stood and pointed through the mist.

The others turned to face me---

And they all vanished!

←- My Mistake | The Pasture -→

Date	Name	Comment
3 Sep 2003	Rachael Evans	Loading... Okay, I hope you don't take personal offense to this comment, because it's meant as more of a compliment, but could be taken in the wrong context. This is a very intriguing story and judging from your other works, I think you could do better. Elaborate on it a little bit, perhaps give us their point of view (and if you don't know it, make something up ^^).
15 Nov 2003	'Princess' Laura Hewett	Loading... wow, that's so cool! You use the uberest events in all your poems, I really like that. once again, uber good.
15 Nov 2003	Elizabeth Wilcox	Loading... The first stanza has a few rhyming issues--but the rest of the poem is pure delight.
17 Nov 2003	Maisha 'Elenwyn' Foster-O'Neal	Loading... gosh, everyone keeps randomly dissapearing! i just can't seem to get used to it! cool note, but it was hard to tell when the note ended and the rest of the story began. maybe some quote marks, or itallics? great tho! ~Elenwyn~ Steve Doyle replies: "Not sure what you mean. The letter is set off by bold, italics & a special font. It ends with Briggs signature."
24 Nov 2003	Heather 'Istara' Sluys	Loading... I do enjoy your ghost stories; I used to read the stuff all the time when I was younger. Now I'm stuck on Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but I'm trying to get help, lol. Your poems are great--keep it up.
27 Nov 2003	Miss Loraina Tubbs	Loading... lol.. yet another vanishing sight. you are SOOO good at that!! totally cool.... loved it again... wow i'm starting to sound repetative...... ~~~~~ Kyrie ~~~~~ ooo look!!! you've gone from getting my signature of "Queen Kyrana of Spam" to "Queen Kyrie of Spam" to "Kyrana" to "Kyrie"!!! this can only mean two things: 1.) I love your stories sooooo much i'm just getting really informal with you and familiar 2.) (and prolly more likely) I'm just too blazing lazy to type it all out... lol... wow i'm messed up... anyhoo, ttylaterz!!
29 Feb 2004	Anonymous	Loading... I just finished watching the "Sea Hunters". They told the rest of the story. I don't understand why they say no-one knows what happened. Thanks-maybe it's me?
6 Mar 2004	Maisha 'Elenwyn' Foster-O'Neal	Loading... heh, about my comment up thar points i think i was on a school computer (bloody macs) and they disable html and stuff, so on the comp i was on, the note just looked like the rest of the poem. But here at home, it looks fine! I can see that not only is it in bold, it's also in a diff font, and itallics, and stuff... but yah, the school comps i have noticed tend to do that... it does it to my poems too.... mweee! i like this one. Peace and a spare elephant, ~Elenwyn~
29 Jun 2004	Lindsey M. Butler	Loading... I love the story of the Mary Celeste for the creepiness fator, but the idea of what those poor sailors must have gone through is frightening. I liked this quite a lot. As usual you know your history.