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The lost ring returns.

This very pretty, bespoke ring was designed by Lizzy’s mum. It had gold from her gand mothers ring. It also had prescious stones from her late great grand mothers ring and was an 18th birthday present.

On a hot day whilst sailing on the River Thames Lizzy got in the water for a swim. As she exited the water by using a rope to climb back into the boat, the ring came off and disappeared into a weed covered sretch of 2 metre deep River Thames.

Mum tried contacting different organisations to see if they could help recover the ring. No help was forth coming.

A friend told mum of a Divecrew search and recovery diver (Martin) who the media called “Lord of the Rings”, there was an article in the Henley Standard. Martin has completed numerous searches in the River Thames to retrieve peoples personal belongings after boating incidents. With nothing to lose, mum contacted Divecrew, partly expecting to hear the worst, that the ring has gone forever.

Divecrew however did offer to help and would send the “Lord of the Rings” to see if he could find the missing ring. Whilst excited, mum was also advised that it is not always possible to retrieve lost items due to the environment of the River Thames: current, poor visibility, silt, weeds etc.

Martin was told of the history to the ring and he became determined to find it. A short boat cruise on the Thames and we arrrived at the site. Slight current.

Circa 2 metres deep. Silt bottom. 2 metres of weed from the bottom to the surface.

The first explority dive with a torch soon showed this was going to be the biggest challenge Martin would face in numerous search and recovery dives. Nil visibility. As soon as the weeds were moved, the water was a silt out. There was only one other option. A methodical search underwater with a pin pointer (metal detector). Even so, this was going to be a needle in a haystack.

Fortunately Lizzy had taken pictures of the area from the boat, we were able to orientate the search area based on the trees on a near by island. Dropping into the murk and searching the bottom by pushing weeds out of the way is zero visibility, the pin pointer went off. Coke can!! It went of again, a piece of rusty metal. Then again, a piece of metal wire. A quick surface trip to reorientate, then back down to the bottom. After 46 minutes the pin pointer goes off again. Fingers searching in the silt, Martin feels a ring shaped item. On surfacing, it was The Ring.

When everyone else was stating it was a lost cause or did not respond at all, Divecrew responded positively and quickly. With the caveat of the ring may not be found, within 48 hours, the ring was returned to the proud owner.

Divecrew – Different.

01344 771113

 

 

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Lord of the Rings

Martin has been dubbed “Lord of the Rings”. He currently has 100% success record of finding and retrieving lost rings even in zero visibility.

How does this come to Divecrew?

Normally Divecrew gets a telephone call, can we help retrieve rings, mobile phones even a boat cover. It really helps when the client knows roughly where the item was lost.

On arrival at site, the conditions are checked including boat traffic, current, weather, water movement, bottom composition, depth of water. It is also important to establish the best entry and exit. The Grand Union Canal job proved tricky getting in and out due to steep piled banks. Once a search area has been determined a few methods are tried. Can you see underwater? On the River Thames job there was no visibility whatsoever. No torch would work. The bottom was silt and blanket weed. Depth was about two metres. The hardest thing in the Thames was orientation. So easy to go off the search area. The location position was achieved by coming to the surface, getting a point of orientation and dropping again. Obviously, great care is needed that your fins are not burying the actual object you are looking for. It is important to have the current wash away from the search site any disturbed silt.

Searching needs to be methodical, slow and precise when you cannot see anything. We use a “pin pointer”. It is a small underwater metal detector. Not only does it have bright LED’s (could not see them in the Thames), it vibrates when it detects metal. The bigger the metal, the stronger the vibration. The Thames search took around 50 minutes. Once the pin pointer alerted Martin to the metal, it is a case of carefully fur tilling around in the silt and weed. Bingo, a ring was found.

Finding a lost ring is a bit needle in an underwater haystack. One has to be methodical and patient.

In the Grand Union Canal job, the challenges were different. The client knew roughly where the ring entered the water. It was close to a lock sluice. The fast moving water could have pushed the ring down stream? Getting in was a challenge. Once in swimming against the current was difficult. Eventually getting to the place of the search, due to fast moving water, a john line was attached to keep Martin in place. The water was around one metre deep. However, the fast moving water had a bonus, the visibility was good. After checking with Ben (the owner of the ring) where to start the search, the rain stopped and the sun came out. As Martin descended he immediately saw a glint. The ring was being vibrated by the strong current and the sun was catching the edges of the ring. No pin pointer needed. Underwater search, less than one minute.

In previous searches, a lost iphone took 40 minutes to find when a paddle boarder dropped it in the lake. Another iphone with sensitive information on it? Took about 20 minutes to locate. A boat cover took less than a minute to locate.

Divecrew will attempt to recovery lost items. However, we make it very clear there is no guarantee of recovery. So much can affect the chances of the find. Wrong search area. Boat movement. Strong current. Zero visibility.

If you have something precious be it in value or sentimental value and you have run out of options, call Divecrew. 01344 771113

We do charge for the search regardless of whether we find the item or not. This is all explained honestly on the booking.

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