It came from a German ship that was sailing from the U.K. to what's now Indonesia, and it's one of thousands of bottles thrown overboard in a German experiment to study global ocean currents.
When one Spanish ship transporting the beans was captured by the British in the 16th Century, they apparently threw the cargo overboard, thinking it was some form of dung.
But I was forced to restrain my mirth, for the next moment the steward ran upon deck, followed by the captain, in a furious rage, threatening if he caught him to throw him overboard.
Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.'
In particular, one that they keep coming back to is the time that some Athenians seized a Corinthian ship, and essentially threw all the Corinthian soldiers and sailors overboard, let them drown.