A Boat Ride to Find and Return Lost Wedding Band on Nantucket, MA

There is nothing more I can add, except for my thanks for getting me involved with your misfortune.
Rick Browne

Testimonial and picture attached
Thanks so much again Rick for everything

On July 18, 2016 after I climbed into bed, my wife turned to me with tears in her eyes and said “I lost my parents wedding ring today.”  Her parents had been married with that ring almost exactly 50 years ago in 1966 and we had gotten married with the same ring 15 years ago in 2001. This ring had a tremendous amount of sentimental value to my wife as her beloved mom had passed away 20 years ago. Needless to say she was devastated.  My wife and children and I had been at the beach on Nantucket and she was playing in the water with our youngest child. I knew within a relatively small area where it must have happened, the water was shallow, and that beach only has small waves. But how could I find it under the water buried in the sand? I started researching waterproof metal detectors online but soon came to realize that the real and right equipment for the job cost a fortune, there was no guarantee I could find the ring anyway, and I really didn’t know what I was doing. Plus, even if I ordered the right equipment and had it sent overnight, I would still lose a day significantly reducing my chances of finding it.  I started looking to see if I could rent the equipment locally or if there was a someone I could find to hunt for the ring for me.  Fortunately in my search I happened upon Ringfinders.com, a directory of treasure hunters willing to help people search for lost valuables on land or in water. I saw that a highly experienced detector and treasure hunter named Richard Browne lived on Cape Cod, and I sent him an email that same night and told him what had happened.  He called me first thing the next morning and said that he would be willing to come to Nantucket and give it a shot.  I sent him a ferry ticket and then picked him up at the ferry terminal early that afternoon the 19th.  We headed to the beach and we mapped out a search grid which was tougher than I thought it would be because the tide was lower than it it had been.  This made it more difficult to judge where exactly in the water my wife had been. Then Rick went to work searching the grid. Vertically, horizontal, and finally diagonally. Every time he stopped we would hold our breaths but after 2 hours all he had found was 12 cents and a used CO2 cartridge.  Given he had covered our grid pretty exhaustively by that point, my wife and I began to lose hope.  Just then he stopped again, and I said to myself, that’s exactly where it should be.  He turned around and looked at my wife and she ran down to the water. He asked he what the ring looked like and when she looked in his scoop there it was, her parents ring. Success!!!! My wife was overcome with emotion.  We all went back to our house and had a celebratory drink with Rick on our deck as we watched an incredible sunset.  A little while later we dropped Rick back off at the ferry and he headed back to the Cape. Nobody we tell this story to can believe it. We went from despair to the top of the world thanks to our hero Rick Browne and to TheRingfinders.com.  

Jon J-