"I was on my way back to the launch site after a pretty unlucky day of fishing," D'Alessio told Newsweek. "I broke one of my favorite rods while I was reeling in a big Rockfish and lost the fish."
The angler said he was almost back at the launch site when he found a glass bottle bobbing in the water.
"I saw this big bottle floating just off the dock of Bunkys Charter boat rental so I went over to it to get it out of the water so I could throw it away when I got back to shore," he said.
The bottle turned out to contain an obituary and several small, rolled-up notes. The obituary was for Maryland woman Emma Jean Ennis, who died at the age of 82 in January 2021.
"I didn't actually open the bottle because I assumed the letters were personal and didn't want to pry, it didn't seem respectful," D'Alessio said.
D'Alessio, who posted photos of the bottle to Reddit, said he called a phone number on the obituary that was marked as being for anyone who found the bottle.
The person that responded was very grateful, told me I 'made their Thanksgiving,' which made me pretty happy about having a bad fishing day," D'Alessio said.
D'Alessio said he returned the bottle to the water in accordance with the family's wishes.
"It hasn't traveled far but I'm sure it has a long journey ahead of it," he said. "Hopefully it makes its way back out to the bay and maybe even the Atlantic ocean. No telling where it could end up honestly."
