Beach cleaner Mr. Calvin Lambert has finally got the message -- five years after it was placed in a bottle and thrown in the sea.

He found the wine bottle yesterday morning as he was raking Daniels Head beach, and thought it was just trash.

But inside was a message on cruise ship notepaper dated April 23, 1987, with a US dollar bill folded inside.

It was written by honeymooners Lorraine and Bruno Morettini from New Orleans, who were on cruise from Florida to the Bahamas.

"This note was placed in the Gulf Stream current,'' it said. "Will the finder please write us?'' The message may have survived because the bottle had a plastic stopper, believes Mr. Lambert, of North Shore Road, Pembroke.

Now the Government beach tractor operator plans to send off a letter and have the dollar bill framed.

"It's the first time I've found a message in a bottle,'' he said. "We were raking the seaweed and I just threw it in the basket on the back of my tractor.

"But my friend who rakes the beach with me said we should check it out and see what it said.

"The couple are going to be surprised that five years later someone found their note. I just hope they're not divorced.'' MESSAGE FROM THE PAST -- Beach cleaner Mr. Calvin Lambert with the five-year-old message he found in a bottle at Daniels Head yesterday.