Bottle found on the bottom of an Ontario Lake

[Highgrader]

I was scuba diving in a lake in Northern Ontario. We found a car a REO from the late 20s early 30s. It looks like it has been in 50 feet of water since the mid 30's. We located 6 bottles in the vehicle, all full and corked. One exploded on deck (still good rye), one blew its cork on the way up and another blew its cork about 2 hours after surfacing (whiskey). The pictures below are of one of the bottles and they appear identical to the others. The labels are gone from being submerged. One has the remains of a foil cork cover. There are absolutely no markings or bumps on the bottles, other than a seam around the outside. I am donating the bottles, but I wouldn't mind knowing some more info about what I am donating.

 

[bottlebugs]

bootleg?

 

[CanadianBottles]

That's pretty cool! I doubt it's moonshine with that carved wooden stopper, and especially not with the foil. It's got a vaguely British look so I'm guessing Scotch whisky. I wonder what the backstory is to those bottles being in the car. I know it was common practice to dispose of unwanted cars into the lake in those days, usually through leaving them on the ice and waiting for the thaw, but you wouldn't expect to find any full bottles of liquor in a dumped car. Maybe someone broke through the ice while on an ice fishing trip too late in the season? Still happens fairly regularly around here.

 

[bottlebugs]

Did I say moonshine? I meant bootlegged bonded liquor being shipped from Canada to the US during prohibition. Canadian Club rye whisky was a favourite. I'll bet the car did
indeed break though the ice en route to the USA! Looks like it was emptied in a hurry!

current repro of 1920s Mickey...

 

[Highgrader]

Did I say moonshine? I meant bootlegged bonded liquor being shipped from Canada to the US during prohibition. Canadian Club rye whisky was a favourite. I'll bet the car did
indeed break though the ice en route to the USA! Looks like it was emptied in a hurry!

View attachment 258342current repro of 1920s Mickey...

It was in a lake next to a little mining town in Northern Ontario, up near Timmins, so not heading to the US. I figure it was using a winter road and was servicing a mine. Without a mark or bump on the bottle, bootleg might make sense.

 

[bottlebugs]

sounds very interesting...wish we had a time machine, eh?

 

[bottlebugs]

no time machine but I found out that Ontario was dry until 1927 and bonded liquor
was bootlegged into the mining camps up north...from Quebec and other wet provinces...