in Bermuda when they stepped over a message in a bottle that had been dropped into the ocean more than seven years ago.

The young couple were walking along Windsor Beach in Tucker's Town when they came across the wine bottle containing the letter, which had been written by sailors aboard the USS Saipan .

It reads: "This bottle was committed to the sea on the night of September 7, 1993, from the deck of the USS Saipan at the completion of LF6F 2-93.

"Thank God it's over. God Bless the United States of America.

"HMM - 264 Black Knights, Breeno, Spauldo, Krammer.'' The couple, who got married last Saturday in their home town of Hamilton in Massachusetts, found the bottle washed up on the shore on Thursday.

Mrs Lombara, a physiotherapist, said: "We couldn't believe it when we picked up the bottle and found a message inside.

"It's a little water-stained and the edges are a little bit torn, but apart from that it's fine.

"It's quite something. It's been in the water all this time.'' Aircraft carrier the USS Saipan was sailing back to Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia when the sailors threw their message overboard.

Between 1991 and 1992 it had been deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm.

During 1993, she was out of home port for a total of 245 days, being deployed in the Mediterranean in support of Operations Deny Flight and Provide Promise.

Just three days after the message was written, on September 10, she arrived home for her third scheduled complex overhaul, which began in April the following year.

As they were approaching the end of their deployment, the three sailors Breeno, Spauldo and Krammer, were obviously glad to be heading home and excited at the thought of being back in America.

"Thank God it's over'', they wrote. But they probably did not expect their message in a bottle to take so long to reach dry land.

Rare find: Honeymooners Stephen and Amy Lombara read the message that they found in a bottle along the shoreline in Tucker's Town.