Mudlarking the River Thames - The Mystery of the Washed up Suitcase found in May 2022

Well, I think I've spotted something exciting here I think this is a message in a bottle or it's something rolled up in a bottle It's a message in a bottle Fran, but I don't know if we're gonna see much of the message What's that? Oh nice It's a beautiful morning again on the River Thames and I'm here today with Fran and You'll recognize Fran I expect from one of my previous videos We're hoping to find some little bits of history to share with you. Fran. What are you hoping to find today? Something small and unusual That sounds that sounds like a great thing to find Yeah, I'd be happy with Something small and unusual too. Maybe a nice coin or a token Yeah, but whatever whatever I find I'll be happy with that so the tides on the way out We've got about another two and a half hours. So we're going to enjoy this beautiful weather the solitude of being down here and Whatever we find What have you got Fran? In case I saw it Oh Hey a button. Oh now that looks like it could be a military button. Oh, wow That's brilliant AFS That's the fire service. Isn't it? It is. Yeah That's what a fantastic first find That is brilliant. There's such a lot of history associated with that and it's in such a good condition as well. It's beautiful What is it? Is it the associated fire service or the art? No, I can't remember what the A stands for That is brilliant Fantastic find well done It's the auxiliary fire service Fran, that's what it is. I've just looked it up and Yeah, there's so much history associated with that. So that's gonna be fun to research Yeah a Very good start today. Oh What's this down here a little that looks like a little seal yeah, it is a Little tiny lead seal now. I know that Fran knows a bit more probably about lead seals than I do. Look at that It's got letters on it CSG, I think take a look a Little tiny bag seal, isn't it? It is. It's lovely Just look at all these before I continue I'd like to say a big thank you to my heritage for making this video possible My heritage is the number one family history service where you can build your family tree and discover your origins As many of you know, I spend a great deal of time researching the family history associated with my Thames mudlarking finds Take for example this small brass luggage tag here, which belonged to a man who was born in the mid 19th century I found out so much about him and his family that it really bought his story to life But it occurred to me recently that I know more about the families of clay pipe makers of padlock manufacturers than my own family tree For example recently. I wondered am I related perhaps to the whites family who manufacture the R-whites lemonade and the R-whites bottle stoppers. I find so many of them on the River Thames and so I've been Researching my own family tree through my heritage and within a very short amount of time I found out all about my great-great-great grandfather, which was hugely exciting and Get this he was alive when this 1797 cartwheel penny that I found in the River Thames was in circulation that for me was absolutely mind-blowing Even though I haven't a great deal of information about my family records with my heritage you have 16 billion records at your fingertips So this has really helped me to build my family tree and I've even discovered family members and relatives I didn't know I had But I'll tell you what I really want to show you and that is some of the magical Features that you can use to enhance and repair photos and even put color on them Okay, so look I've got a really old photograph here of my Grandmother, it could even be my great-grandmother From years ago in the 19th century. Just look at this here So first of all, we can actually repair the photograph Okay, so before you see there and let's have a look what it's going to be afterwards. So Move that across there now look at that But what I really want to see is what they look like in color Because I can't really imagine my great-grandmother in anything other than black and white. I'm gonna press the colorize button. Oh Look at this Look at this. Isn't that magical? Isn't that magical? It's like a portal into the past. I must admit I'm pretty curious about how this photo can be animated. So look, let's just have a little experiment So I'm gonna press the animate button So if any of you out there are interested into looking into your own family history and in trying out some of the other fabulous Features that MyHeritage has to offer then you can have a two-week free trial with access to absolutely everything Then if afterwards you're still interested you can have 50% off So I'm going to put the details in the description below so you can check it out for yourself I am so gonna email a copy of this to my mum. She is not gonna believe it when she sees this photograph She's simply not gonna believe it. Oh Look, there's another little seal here I've just realized too that I've forgotten one of my knee pads so I'm going to be down on one knee for most of the day, but there's another little seal here and it's Also very similar Interesting We've got a little hot spot here. And I've also just seen something here, which I want to look at a little piece of metal just there Looks like it could very possibly be Some kind of label and it is look 1974 My date of birth Not really 1974 What else is there down there? Oh look actually Fran I've just seen another one Yes, the same, isn't that interesting Isn't that funny how that there's a whole little batch of them just here Yeah the mystery of the three seals I'm just looking amongst these rocks here and I've seen what looks like the outline of an old boat hook here. Look the unmistakable shape Of what I think is probably a 19th century boat hook Look at this Fran Would have been an old boat hook at one point. Yes It's pretty rusty. I'm going to leave it here, but it's an interesting piece of history. Oh You've got another little button It's really cute. It's really sweet, isn't it? That looks like a little morning button Very nice could turn out to be a button day. It could turn out to be a button day. Nothing wrong with a button day buttons and seals Is it button number? Number four button number four. Oh, that's really clear that one, isn't it? It is. Yeah Yeah, that's lovely Tiniest little green bead spotted by Fran's beady eye That's beautiful, isn't it? It's gorgeous. You'll have to find a little pin to put it on Now here's a nice little patch and I have just found a bead as well not as small as Fran's bead Here it is. Look tiny bead Let's see. What else we can find in this little area little scrape Well, I can certainly see pins oh There's a coin there look oh, it's a half a coin look Uh-huh. It is half a French franc and there is a story about these as to why they were cut in half Which I will tell you about later on What else have we got here? lots of pins Now straight away. Look I have seen another half a coin It's another half a French franc Centime in this case, I think Look at this Now this is a tiny fossil What fossil I'm not exactly certain but isn't it beautiful that? So symmetrical isn't nature perfect. Ah You found half a French franc as well Yes, there is a story about those they were cut to prevent people from using them Another button it is indeed a button day for Fran My gosh, that is beautiful That is gorgeous. Oh Nice find You're the button girl today. Oh How pretty Type design on it hasn't it has beautiful well done Well done that girl so I've seen something round and gold over there and I can see from here that it has a skull on it. So let's go and see what this is Maybe a pirate's gold coin Look at that Yes, there's a treasure chest on the other side there is a skull and crossbones or a skull and something I Think we're on the way to finding the pirates treasure. Oh What have you got? One of my favorite kinds of finds actually I can see it there an old padlock Crikey look at that. That's gonna take a bit of cleaning up Are you gonna take it? You're not I might take it as a challenge. I just found a couple of really nice padlocks actually You never know. This would be a good challenge I'll put it in my bag Yeah What secrets could it unlock You know, we might get some of the Encrustation off just by hitting it on this rock. Let's see Yeah, I think it's doable. I'll do the rest at home. I don't want to risk breaking it let's see if we can transform this into something a little bit legible There's somebody's old bucket there Ammunition I Think that could be a 303 but it might be too small for that There's so much to look at Overwhelming for the eyes Now that's interesting just here. Look not very far away from that other bullet part Some more ammunition see a couple of bits now that looks like a 303 now, what about this one? Well, I think I've spotted something exciting here I think this is a message in a bottle or it's something rolled up in a bottle. Oh Yes. Yes it is. Look Unfortunately, it's also full of water but I can see some lettering or some letters there we might be lucky You might be lucky now, it's good that the whoever wrote it put water I mean It's good that you ever wrote it Put the message in a glass bottle But we may not find any writing at all because it might have been completely soaked out by the water We can always hope It's a message in a bottle Fran, but I don't know if we're gonna see much of the message Yeah, it might be It might be completely washed out by the water Okay Well, we'll save that for later and talking of bottles I've just seen a broken bottleneck down here But what's nice about it? Is that it still has the glass stopper in? Look, there it is It hasn't been taken out for well over a hundred years probably see if I can get it out And as it's such a beautiful sunny day We'll have to do the obligatory bottle stopper in the Sun shot Where's the Sun? Oh blinding there Thanks Fran an onion for me and a lime for you Delicious delicious It is isn't it now we just need a little bit of fish or something from Yeah, it's kind of colander or something where you can wash the onion and the lime Well, the tide is on its way in all too soon, so let's have a quick look at some of the things we found Oh very nice Probably a Georgian buckle Georgian buckle fragment half a Frank half a Frank the notorious Cutting half Frank. Yes 1950s What could be a very worn token? I'm not too sure Take it home. Have a look. Yeah a couple of modern pennies Excellent they can go in the Thames charity box. That's right. And then the selection of these one tiny green seed bead Yeah, the tiny one and then unfortunately these are broken, but they're still quite nice means Part of a wooden comb. Do you think that could be part of a nip cone? I should think so. Yes Yeah, and then I've got a little selection of buttons button bonanza On it Another button with a bit of writing on it. It's probably one of these store Name store somebody Mills so I can see Mills on there. Maybe you can send me a photo of it later. Yeah T Mills and Co Aldgate established 1851 winter and spring 1872 to three We invite early attention to our stock of overcoatings nips Balty and president cloths New Denmark naps lamb skins Irish freezes beavers West of England coatings scotch and other tweeds fancy vestings cashmere seal skins astrakhan's all the choicest novelties trouser rings West of England hairlines treble and single mill whipcord saddle tweeds Angola's and fancy silk mixtures a large assortment of the most fashionable clothing always in stock in the several departments ready for immediate use a special department for young gentlemen and juvenile clothing and an extensive variety to select from college gowns hats and caps University suits Highland suits dress suits, etc. That's T Mills and Co of all gate An experienced young man is good address as trousers cutter apply to T Mills and Co one And then we've got the auxiliary fire service button Brilliant, I think that's one of my favorite finds from today and then this lovely big Brass patinated button. It looks like almost with a floral pattern on it could be Georgian could be like a big dandy Yes, I think so something like that and it's got the shank on the back, which is very nice And then a smaller button with limited amount of pattern and then I have got this Let's see. Yeah still a hook on it, hasn't it and this nylon thread which is just so lethal for the wildlife I've seen a swan Tangled up in nylon wire. So yeah, whenever we find anything like that We pick it up to try and minimize the risk to all the wildlife in the Thames So a pretty good morning, wasn't it it's very good morning And I've got some of my finds over there my gold pirate coin Some buttons as well. I'm looking forward to seeing if there's anything on this one a few cut francs some seals Which I will take it closer to cat later and take some close-up photos Here's my pins in the cork and I did pick up this which is actually very modern from a piece of scaffolding wood, but I like pieces of metal with Lettering on them. I shall use that in some form of Artwork I've got the Padlock in here. You'll see if I can get anywhere with that and I have got here the message in a bottle or will it be a disappointment in a bottle? We will find out about that later on Well, thanks for coming out with me today, Fran It has it's it's like being on a tropical beach down here today And we are off to get some well-deserved lunch. I'm absolutely starving. I didn't have any breakfast this morning And Fran, well, you've got an Instagram account, haven't you generally? Even though you're currently locked out of it for some reason At franjoy7 Okay, brilliant. So yeah, hop on over and take a look at Fran's Instagram account. She has found some marvellous marvellous mudlarking finds Hi everyone. Thank you so very much for watching my video I hope that wherever you are in the world Whatever time of night or day it is that all is well in your world And I hope that you enjoyed that foray along the Thames foreshore at low tide with my friend Fran as much as I did Fran who was finding Vegetables and fruit washing up at her feet so much so that we almost had enough to make ourselves a delicious Salada à la Thames for lunch, but I'm very happy to tell you that we didn't do that We actually went to the Prospect of Whitby not far from where we were which Has a lovely menu with lots of salads in and hopefully they don't use fruit and vegetables washed up by the Thames I'm sure they don't but anyway, I digress It was a fantastic outing and as you can see Even if you find a not a lot more than a handful of buttons you can still extract some Fascinating history and and interesting stories And on that note, I'd like to say Thank you to David Nolan for being the voice of tea mills Outfitters and tailors. Thank you very much for that David And also to the Internet Archive for the brilliant black-and-white footage all about the auxiliary fire service Which I think has got to be my favorite find of that outing so well done Fran for that And now a few words on a couple of the other finds before I tell you all about the message in a bottle So what's with these clipped French francs? well, apparently back in the 1950s when the French franc was devalued they were sent to England to be smelted and Originally, they were sent in their entirety. They weren't clipped But apparently some dockers got hold of them on occasions and used them somehow to to go on holiday to France and so when this ruse was caught on to the French government started to Clip them before they were sent so that nobody could use them And this story comes to us. Thanks to Steve Brooker of mud God fame He used to do Mudmen on the TV. He's a great guy. He knows his stuff. He's been mudlarking for absolute years He's on Instagram. You can go and find him at mud God I think if you put that in you'll find him So anyway, it was Steve that has told us this story about these French francs whether it's a myth or not I don't know, but it sounds quite plausible. What do you think? So that is those I'll show you quickly the padlock which I did Manage to clean up to a certain extent, but I didn't find a name on there and I've got to be honest it's seen better days and it's kind of disintegrating now, but Certainly looks more padlock like and it did when Fran pulled it out And if you know anything else about any of those other finds those seals for example Then of course, please feel free to comment below and let me know your thoughts about any of the finds that appeared in this video so now to the message in a bottle which Was in a glass bottle, which is great because it's not that great to To put plastic bottles in the river regardless of whether they've got messages in or not So well done whoever put it in on that but they didn't put the top on properly Unfortunately, and so the bottle was full of water and sadly there was no trace of any message but but I Recently found another one the beginning of May I found this message in a bottle in a plastic bottle, but Never mind. At least it had a message in it And I haven't opened it yet because I thought I would save it to open here with you So I have no idea what it says I have resisted the temptation to peek in too much, but I can definitely see that there is Writing on that paper. And so we are going to see what it says together in a minute But first of all, I want to tell you about the events that led up to me finding this bottle I really feel I have to share it with you So with the help of some footage, which I took that day and me talking because it was terribly terribly windy that day So it's awful audio. I'm going to explain what happened. So here's the bottle. We'll get to it in a minute So it was back at the beginning of May before I went to New York. I went to New York 13th May I think and before I went I bought myself a new camera. I'm gonna show it to you. It's here Cool, isn't it? It's a bit of an upgrade on my old Sony handycam You're probably thinking wow, why does she use such a big clunky camera? Well, the reason I use it is because I can zoom in and I love being able to have that function so that I can zoom in on all the wildlife like this lovely Egyptian goose, which I'm now going to put up on the screen So I got this camera so I wanted to try it out before I went to New York So I went down to the foreshore with this camera just to try it all out to familiarize myself With it and make sure I knew what I was doing so I was just filming around the area a bit like I usually do hoping to find a few little bits and pieces when suddenly Right across on the other side of the foreshore. I Saw this big object Sitting on the gravel and it looked very much like a suitcase and indeed It was a suitcase and in the suitcase as you will see there were lots and lots of clothes There were some books Actually, they were flute books on how to play the flute or flute music There were bow ties there were Little necklaces, there was also some toothbrushes and I thought great. Okay, what shall I do? So I tend to use social media a lot And I thought I know I'll take a photograph of it and I'll put it on Twitter and that way if anybody has Had their bag stolen then they can get in touch. So I put it on Twitter and it got retweeted loads and loads and loads of times and I'll put the tweet up so you can see it and then I was in a dilemma Of course because I was on the foreshore and I thought well, I can't leave it here for when the tide comes up I'm going to have to take it because either somebody is going to Claim it or I will of course tell the police about it. So That wasn't very easy really because it was a huge suitcase with lots and lots of wet stuff in it Completely and utterly sodden. So I stuffed everything in the suitcase to zip up and I lugged it up the foreshore onto the Thames path Meanwhile, also my car parking was running out in a very short amount of time So I started to trundle along with this very heavy. Thank goodness it had wheels Suitcase and as I was going along I stopped for a rest and then I looked over the side of the railings So I'm just wheeling the suitcase along and I've looked over the edge of the barrier And I think I can see a message in a bottle down there I'm going to have to go down and get it I'll be out in a minute So I'm going to have to be quick and I'm lugging along a massive suitcase full of sodden clothes Comedy I knew that I wasn't going to have time to run around You couldn't just hop over It would have meant running around quite a long way So I knew I wasn't going to have time Plus I thought I can't leave this massive great suitcase Here on the Thames path It's going to look so suspicious And get everybody worried So I thought okay fine I'll dash back to my car I'll put this soaking wet big suitcase In the back of my poor car I'll move my car Because in Greenwich you can park for two hours But then you can't Put more money in and stay in You have to move So I wasn't going to miss that message in a bottle I wasn't going to leave it there So I managed to get the suitcase in the back of my car And it was just dripping everywhere It was a horrible mess I drove around the corner Reparked my car Put some more money in And then I went back to Examine this bottle And sure enough Thankfully It wasn't a big waste of time There is a message in here And so I thought to myself I'll open it in this cafe Down the road But it was so windy that I didn't want to do that And I thought you know what I'm just going to wait a while I'm going to wait before I open it So this after my extremely long introduction And my story about the strange suitcase Which actually I didn't even tell you How it ended I'll get to that in a minute Let's do the message in a bottle now And then I'll finish and tell you what happened to the suitcase Right here we go Hello everyone Bear in mind I have not opened this at all So let's hope I can just get it out I don't know Let's hope I can get it Didn't think about that did I Did not think about that Don't even want to rip it Let me squash it down with my finger Yeah here we go Okay I will tell you that I can Tell that it's a child's writing I think it's a child So let's see what this child has to say Let's hope it's a good message Let's hope it's nothing awful Right Here we are I'll put it up there Okay so it's from Brooke Dated 30th of April I wish for a dog Brooke 30th of April I wish for to have a big room And be rich with a big house 30th of April Oh and that's Casey Oh so it's several children And I think they must have all put their wish So I wish for a dog I wish for to have a big room And be rich with a big house Find me a man Bulldog type Tracy 30th of April And I wish for West Ham To win the European League And that's Connor 30th of April Oh so everybody has put their wishes Unfortunately they haven't left A contact Address or a number So I can't provide All the things that they have wished for I could probably Help with a dog Because I reckon I have some In my Thames Lost Orphans Let me just get one I do have a few Dogs So I could Actually I have a man as well here Yeah I've got a few Lost toy Dogs look And a few more So I could have maybe Made that wish come true for Brooke Now for Tracy who wants a man I also have a man Look I've got a man He's actually naked so I'm covering up His nether regions here So I have a man as well Tracy I can't do anything about the Europa League Cup And West Ham In fact I'm not really a football person So I don't even know if West Ham won or not I'm afraid And I wish to have a big room And be rich with a big house Can't do much about that either But as we all know Being rich isn't everything You can be rich in many other things I might Put this on Twitter anyway And see if I can trace them And then I can at least send them the dog and the man So there is a message in a bottle To make up for the one Which we didn't get to read Which was soaking wet So then what happened to The suitcase Well when I got back To my car there was a significant Amount of water in it And it was also beginning to smell a bit Because it was quite a hot day So I drove home And by this time I had Actually contacted the police And I heard from the police And they said that the police were going to come around And take a look at this suitcase And take it away So I put it safely Outside somewhere And I waited to hear from the police And the next day I was due To go to New York So the police were going to have to hurry up And in the end I didn't hear From the police So I Yeah, what can I say I heard from the control room Of the police station Who said that the police were going to come But then nobody actually did come I finally put the suitcase Outside In a shed And that is where it is now So that is the story Of the suitcase On the Thames foreshore And the message in the bottle That I found And that dramatic day Which turned into a bit of a performance After having only really Wanted to just go down there And try out my new camera So if you're still here After having listened to me Drone on and on for the last goodness knows How long, congratulations And I now Wish to share Something else with you Before I leave And that is, I want to share some footage With you that I was sent By several people who have Participated in the Find five objects challenge So in a moment I'm going to Play you this footage I have received from Sylvia, Lily And also Timo and Emi, so these Four people have Participated in Going out and finding Five objects So what have you found over the last few days Lily? What's the picture on it, let's see It's a chair Right, hold it really still What's the next thing that you found? A rat tooth You think it's a rat tooth? Where did we find that? Tiny tiny teeth You think it's a rat tooth? And a clay pipe Yeah We found that at the Lockman didn't we But it's really thin So thin, I'm not sure if it is a clay pipe And a bead Oh right, yes a bead And A white piece of petrol Where did you find that bead? Yeah, we found it in the gutter didn't we Let's see We could probably use that again Hi, my name is Sylvia I'm from Georgia In the USA Here are my five things First I found this Buried in some wood chips at my school And And then I found this, I think it's From Those finders I found it at my school Right next to a tree Buried in a little bit of leaves And then I found this In the curb By a crosswalk When I was walking to the pool Then I found this S hook By the basketball court S is S is my initials, S F But my favorite thing I found right in the middle Of the sidewalk A five cent coin From the year 1999 From Cuba Just right in the middle of the sidewalk So this is One side And this is the other side Ah, this Is the other side I can't believe I found a coin from Cuba In Georgia In the USA Right just in the middle of the sidewalk All the The rest of the things are kind of hidden And a lot of people would pass by now But this coin doesn't look Even rusty or old So we are in Duisburg On the Rhine A bit before where the Ruhr Comes into the Rhine And I'm here with my two kids This is Timo And this is Emmy And Emmy will tell you What we are doing Hello, we're mudlarking here But not really mudlarking More like stonelarking Until now we found a few things I found until now The top thing of a bomb From the second world war I find it's pretty cool to find My brother found I found these metal things Like this is probably copper or bronze Or something, and this is one of these I don't know how you call it But yeah, you turn them on the thing And I also found Some sort of It's like a stone with metal And I thought it looked cool And I also found this cross that somebody built together With some Self made string or twigs Or something And since we are downstream From the Ard Where last year they had a big Tragedy where many people died And it's a Rhine region We're finding also stuff That is for sure from A vine plant We're gonna leave this one here And this cross Also because many people died last summer In the flooding of the Ard region We're gonna throw this Back in the Rhine because we think It probably was A mourning of people for Somebody that died And for sure I'm gonna take this home And my Yeah So there goes the cross And what did Emy want to say? Well I wanted to say The thing that I would most like To find would be like one of these Ink bottles Like these really old ones Like Paige found in her film And Timo what do you would like to find? I don't really know I would like to find Something like a sort of treasure Sort of thing So that's what we did That's what we found And now we're gonna make something beautiful And we found 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 6, 7 8, 9 10 11 12 13, 14 15, 16, 17 18, 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 This is a barbie shoe I found In the middle of the road At the park And this one I found In the playground At my neighbor At my school And it's a wood That looks like a rock This is a letter bead I really like letter beads Because you can make little words Out of them on a bracelet P stands for paradise This is a Coca-Cola bottle cap I found it Over by the swings In my park And this one Is a hairband It's made of cloth It's not rubber So thank you very much to Timo, Emmy, Sylvia and Lily For sharing your finds with us I really enjoyed your videos Thank you ever so much Also I wanted to say A very late hello To Sophie and Eric Who I met back in May So hi Sophie and Eric It was absolutely brilliant to meet you And I think that's it everyone I think that's it I think I've gone on for long enough I'm looking forward to being back again soon With more exciting adventures I'm working on a couple of videos Another New York one Which will be the next one to come out And then I hope to share My metal detecting Adventures In the beautiful island of Alderney Where I was with Chillville And Cy Fines So I'm really looking forward to working on those So in the meantime I'd like to say a big thank you To you all again for watching my videos For all the support that you give to me For all the Ko-fi donations as well I so so appreciate them So take care Look after yourselves Be happy And I'll see you again very soon Sending you lots of love from here in London Bye bye