A woman taking a walk on a New York state beach found a message in a bottle that had been launched by high school students in Long Island 47 years earlier.

Susan Hennes, 75, of East Patchogue, said she was walking the shore of Bellport Bay when she found the Grolsch beer bottle with a swing-top cap and a note inside. The handwritten note inside said it was part of a science experiment from William Floyd High School in Shirley. The note said the experiment was regarding the currents around Fire Island, which averages about 3.9 miles off the shore of Long Island.

Hennes contacted a friend who works as a security guard at the school, and officials were able to put her in touch with former science teacher William Kiriazis, 75, of East Hampton.

The school district said a ‘$50 reward’ offered on the note was likely a joke added by a student without the teacher's knowledge, but Hennes said she was not interested in compensation, merely curiosity.

Hennes said she and Kiriazis are planning to meet this week and they will consult with Christine Rosado, current director of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics for the William Floyd school district, to talk about the result of the experiment and what students might learn from it.