A note records that Christopher Columbus the explorer and discoverer of the Americas (New World) using a message in a bottle when his ship was hit by a fleet of ocean storms. Columbus threw a report of his discovery along with a note asking it to be passed on to the Queen of Spain, in a sealed cask into the sea, hoping the news would make it back even if he did not survive.

Columbus recorded in his log that his ship Nina was struggling in a wild storm in the middle of the Atlantic. His message asked the finder to notify the Spanish Queen and, though it is clearly documented as having being sent, has not yet turned up.

The message has never been meant to ask for help!