Cold War soldier's message in a bottle found after 50 years

A man discovered a bottle containing a 50-year-old letter from the Russian Navy along the western coast of Alaska.

Tyler Ivanoff found the handwritten letter earlier this month while gathering firewood in the northwest of Alaska's Anchorage, reported The Guardian.

Ivanoff shared his discovery on Facebook where the message was translated by Russian speakers and it was discovered to be a greeting from a Cold War Russian sailor from the year 1969.

The message included an address and a request for a response from the person who finds it.

Reporters from the state-owned Russian media network, Russia-1, tracked down the original writer, Capt Anatoliy Botsanenko.

“It looks like my handwriting. For sure! East industry fishing fleet! E-I-F-F!” Botsanenko said.

The message was sent while he was aboard the Sulak, a ship whose construction he oversaw in 1966 and that he sailed on until 1970, Botsanenko said.

When shown pictures of the bottle and note, Botsanenko teared up in joy, officials said.

At one point in his career, he was the youngest captain in the Pacific at 33 years old, Botsanenko said.

Ivanoff was not sure if he would return a message, but considered writing his own letters with his children.