She participated in a Deutsche Seewarte [de] experiment investigating ocean currents by means of distributing messages in bottles.

A bottle dropped by Paula in the Indian Ocean in 1886 was discovered in January 2018 north of Wedge Island, Western Australia.

[2] Paula was built in April 1876 at the Lüring Yard, Hammelwarden, Germany for A Schiff & Co.[1] The Code Letters NFKG and German Official Number 4277 were allocated.

[4] On 12 June 1886, a message in a bottle was dropped from Paula during a voyage from Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom to Makassar, Dutch East Indies.

They confirmed that the bottle had been dropped as part of an experiment by the German Naval Observatory (Deutsche Seewarte) to determine ocean currents.