How a message in a bottle connected two families a world apart after tragedy

CarolannRiggs and her family in Burin will have some special visitors this Christmas, brought together by her daughter's tragic death and a message in a bottle that floated thousands of kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean.

Back in December 2002, Riggs says she got home from a hockey practice with her son and there was a strange message on phone.

"There was a message there from a guy, he said that he was calling [from] off the coast of Africa and he was looking for Siobhane," she said.

"It wrenched the heart when I heard it because I thought it was a prank call."

Riggs's six-year-old daughter Siobhane waskilled in a tragic accident 11 months earlier, and the family was still grieving the loss of their little girl.

She said she was upset and confused by the call, but her son A.J. knew exactly what the caller was talking about.

"That man, he said, has my sister's bottle," said Riggs.

"And he said, 'you better call him back, because we've got to get my sister's bottle."

Siobhane and A.J. had written letters the previous summer, sealed them up in plastic bottles and gavethem to their father, who worked in the offshore off the coast of Nova Scotia,to put into the Atlantic.

Riggs returned the call, and the man on the other end of the phone was Patrick Dennis in Tenerife part of Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of western Africa.

Dennis had found the two bottles, and when Riggs called, he asked to speak to Siobhane.

"Unfortunately, I had to tell him what had happened. He was pretty distraught and I think he was going to end it there," Riggs said.

"But I told him, I said 'I want you to keep those bottles in a safe place, and one of these days, we're coming to get the bottles."

Riggs said that first phone call came just a few days before what would have been Siobhane's seventh birthday, and she and her family quickly formed a special bond with Dennis and his family.

The two families kept in touch and the Riggs travelled to Tenerife in May 2004 and brought the bottles and the letters back to Burin.

"I'll never forget that night that I called him and I heard his voice on the other end of the phone. It really picked us up, it gave us the strength to get out of that dark place that we were at and to move forward," she said.

"Planning the trip when we went to Tenerife was absolutely fabulous it brought some excitement and it brought some happiness and smiles to our faces again."

The family went to the Spanish island again in 2017, and Dennis decided it was time for him and his family to make the trip to Newfoundland.

"Patrick thought it was time now for them to come, his children were old enough to make this journey as well. So, my husband and my son both work offshore, so we had to choose a time when they were both going to be home," said Riggs.

"So, in August, Patrick called he said, 'how would you like some visitors for Christmas?' and we were elated."

Riggs said it's going to be very special Christmas, bringing the two families from across the ocean together as one.

"They're going to take part in all our family traditions, and to be able to share that with them is going to be very, very special because they are a part of our family now,"

Dennis, his wife and their two daughters will arrive on Dec. 23 and Riggs said they've planned a special celebration with mummers and a screech-in the following weekend.

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