The long arm of the law soon hauled it in, ending its nine years of freedom in the ocean.

For the bottle, it was the final stop after many thousands of miles floating around the north Atlantic.

For P.c. Watson, it meant he had finally got his man. Every other bottle he has spotted on duty has been empty.

The bottle was dropped from the US Navy oil tanker Maumee on August 29, 1985, said the message inside from a W. Cody of San Rafael, California.

It was thrown into the sea just south of Newfoundland, and P.c. Watson believes it floated north, on clockwise ocean currents, before eventually arriving inside the reef off the East End.

GOTCHA -- P.c. Paul Watson with one of the most travelled bottled messages ever to be found locally.