1916 Soldiers' Letters Found on WA Beach

A Schweppes bottle found by the Brown family during a beach clean-up at Wharton Beach near Esperance, Western Australia, on Oct. 9 contained two pencil letters dated Aug. 15, 1916 from Privates Malcolm Alexander Neville and William (Kirk) Harley, who were aboard troop ship HMAT A70 Ballarat that left Adelaide on Aug. 12, 1916. Neville’s cheerful note — saying the food was “really good” (except one meal) and that they were “happy as Larry” — asked the finder to deliver his letter to his mother in Wilkawatt; Harley’s letter wished the finder well and allowed the finder to keep his note. Military records show Neville was killed in France in April 1917; Harley was wounded, survived the war, and died in 1934 of cancer his family attributes to gas exposure. Debra Brown used social media to trace and contact Neville’s great-nephew and Harley’s descendants and plans to mail the letters back while keeping the bottle. A coastal oceanography expert said the bottle may have washed ashore shortly after being launched and then been buried in sand for decades, explaining its century-long disappearance.