Irish academics are said to be "amazed" after a message in a bottle sent from Ireland 40 years ago turned up in Russia.
Researchers in NUI Galway are baffled by the strange discovery of the bottle in the Russian port of Murmansk.
The item is believed to have been thrown into the Atlantic off the Irish coast four decades ago as part of a study of the island's tides.
Dr Martin White, an oceanographer at NUI Galway, said it was "quite amazing" that the bottle managed to travel 4,000 kilometres.
“It is amazing to think it has gotten that far. I fully believe it made its way there by itself,” he told The Irish Times.
“It can certainly reach there by the currents. It is likely 30 or 40 years since it was deployed. I think it is quite amazing, if it did go with the currents, that it survived intact, without leaking in the intervening years.”
The paper reports that a man sent an email to the Galway university in recent weeks after finding the bottle in a fjord near Murmansk.
Adding further mystery to the discovery is the fact that the serial number on the item may not have survived, meaning the college may not be able to match it to its own records.
However, the card inside the vessel, known as a drifter, remains somewhat intact.
Dr White plans to contact the bottle's finder to ascertain more details about its incredible journey.
