Smith, George Thomas (5757)

Place of Birth: Williamstown, VIC

Age: 30 years 11 months

Enlistment Details: Friday, 10 March 1916 – Melbourne, VIC

Service Number: 5757            view online service record

Address:
408 Graham Street
Port Melbourne, VIC

Next of Kin:
Victoria H Smith (wife)
408 Graham Street
Port Melbourne, VIC

Embarkation Details:
Date: Monday, 3 July 1916
Ship: HMAT Ayrshire A33
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 7th Infantry Battalion – 18th Reinforcements

Fate:
RTA: Wednesday, 5 March 1919
Discharged: Wednesday, 21 January 1920

George Smith was a fireman at locomotive shed in Port Melbourne when he signed up for the war. On his way to the front, George wrote a message to his wife and placing it in a bottle threw it overboard where, over six months later, it arrived, carried by the current, at Cape Schanck. Harry Tressider of Clifton Hill was visiting the cape on 29 December 1916 and found the bottle in the sea and on returning to the city he located George’s wife who had moved to Little Boundary Street, South Melbourne and passed the message to her.

1917 ‘MESSAGE FROM THE SEA SENT IN BOTTLE.’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 13 January, p. 1. , viewed 22 Dec 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88367443