The present invention relates to an autonomous surface water sampler and a method of surface water  sample collection using an existing manual water sampling bottle. The developed method allows the user to obtain samples of the water from the sea surface  wireless/remotely after the instrument has either been manoeuvred to a point of interest or drifted away from the ship for sampling. The novelty of the present invention  as stated in the specification is to provide an advanced technology which can be appended to existing manually operated water sampling bottles with an automatic  trigger mechanism to collect water samples from remote locations away from place of operation.