"Then we unrolled it and saw printed writing. We could see the hand written ink at that point, but saw a printed message that asked the reader to contact the German consulate when they found the note." Later, they also noticed faint handwriting on the note, with a date of 12 June 1886 and the name of the ship, Paula. When they saw the date they thought it was "too far-fetched" to be real, Mr Illman said - but they researched the bottle online and took it to experts at the Western Australian Museum. Rough translation: "This bottle was thrown into the ocean on the 12th of June 1886. In 32° 49' latitude South and 105° 25' length South Greenwich East. By: Bark, ship: Paula, home: Elsfleth. We kindly ask the finder to send the paper to the German naval observatory in Hamburg or the next German consulate after filling in the data"