This Long Island kid knew his A, B, Seas.
A Shelter Island teen’s message in a bottle survived a three-year, 1,000-mile journey to the Bahamas before being picked up off the beach last month by a couple hunting for treasure.
Andrew and Carol Gracie were wandering the desolate shores of Cave Cay, a private island, when they discovered now-15-year-old Connor Corbett-Rice’s letter tucked into an old wine bottle.
“I was amazed that it made it all the way to the Bahamas,” said Connor, who has since e-mailed the Gracies, who are in their 50s and semi-retired, to fill them in on his life.
“We had forgotten all about it,” added Connor’s mom, Michelle Corbett, a teacher at Shelter Island School.
Connor was 12 when he penned the seaworthy missive as part of an assignment from Shelter Island School teacher Jack Reardon.
“My name is Connor,” the message began. “I live on Shelter Island. It is a small island in between the two forks of Long Island, which extend out from New York City about 100 miles east.
“I have a younger brother named Mitchell. He is 8,” the letter continued. “I also have a younger sister named Angelina. She is 5. My dog is a puggle named Boo.”
Reardon, a technology teacher, said his seventh-graders send off bottled messages during his lesson on ocean currents. Connor rolled his note in graph paper to shield it from the sun, and Reardon attached his own contact information to protect his student.
The teacher tossed his pupils’ corked bottles out to sea while fishing near Plum Island. One longneck made it to Rhode Island, but most of the messages were instantly found by locals or presumed lost at sea.
But the tides turned when the Gracies e-mailed Reardon photos of the bottle.
“This one takes the cake, because the bottles are supposed to go north — I’m thinking England or France,” Reardon said. “The wind traditionally comes from the west, so if you’re lucky enough to catch the Gulf Stream, it’s going to push it over.”
Hurricanes Irene and Sandy could have sent the bottle on an unusual trajectory, Reardon said.
The Gracies believe a perfect storm brought them to Connor’s bottle. On Feb. 12, Cave Cay’s dock master let them stroll on a beach not open to visitors, and they found the letter in clean glass that looked almost as good as new.
“In the age of instant communication, it’s nice that such a simple little experiment can generate excitement,” Andrew Gracie told The Post.