> "Nevertheless..." so you basically agree its extremely unexciting?

No. I don't agree. I find the message extremely exciting.

> That's the point.

I hear you making the point and I'm disagreeing with it.

> point of a message in the bottle

The point of a message in the bottle is whatever was the point for the people who made it. For them the point was to write up their names in such a way that it persist for the future and will be found only by people who are working on the same lighthouse they did.

> I literally want to read something interesting if I'm pulling a piece of paper out of a 100 year old bottle.

And you did read something interesting. You had a glimpse into the real world life of some real world people. The kind of working class chaps who are not usually recorded in history books. They told you that they have worked on this lighthouse and when. It also speaks volumes what they haven't wrote in the letter. This is interesting.