Gold Wedding Ring Lost in The Saco River, Found With A Metal Detector In Biddeford, Maine
🚨 SACO RIVER SUCCESS: Independence Day Ring Rescue! 🎆
💍On Friday, July 3rd, I received a call from Sam. Her husband, Matt, had been tubing on The Saco River at Rotary Park in Biddeford, Maine—just 3–4 miles from my house.
While tubing, Matt felt his white gold wedding ring slip right off his finger.
He dove in after it, but after an hour of searching, he came up empty-handed.
Sam wanted to know if this was something we could help with. I told her we absolutely do water recoveries!
I’ve searched Rotary Park before; while it’s not a complicated grid, the riverbed has a brutal, hard clay bottom that makes digging with our scoops incredibly tough.
Sam said Matt would be in touch.📞
The Morning Plan & Tag-Teaming the Search
The next morning, Matt called with the exact details:
Depth: 4 to 5 feet of water 🌊
Location: Inside the buoys at Rotary Park
Current: Very minimal
Bottom: A mix of sand, hard clay, and thick vegetation 🌿
Perfect! I told Matt I could search up to five feet deep, but I wasn’t available for another hour and a half.
Instead of making him wait, I called fellow Ring Finder Gary Hill, who lives just 20 minutes away.
Gary could start grid-searching immediately until I could get there.
Matt rushed to meet him.
Within 30 minutes, Gary was out the door with his Minelab Excalibur diving metal detector, ready to dive in! 🤿🏎️
Double Booking: A Second Emergency Call!
Once I got home, I started loading up my own Minelab Excalibur to head to the river.
Just as I was packing up, my phone rang again.
A frantic caller at Long Sands Beach in York Beach, Maine, had just lost a gold wedding ring in the sand 30 minutes prior.
With Gary already handling the river, I made a quick executive decision:
I left the Saco River search entirely in Gary’s capable hands and jumped onto the Maine Turnpike toward York.
I was barely on the highway when my phone buzzed. A text from Gary read:
“RING FOUND 4 1/2 FEET DEEP.” 🥳🔥
OUTSTANDING!
I called Gary immediately to congratulate him on an incredible water recovery before continuing down to my beach call.🤿
Mud, Branches, and Teamwork: How It Happened
Gary later gave me the breakdown of how they pulled it off.
Matt took Gary directly to the drop zone.
Matt even brought his snorkeling goggles to help search visually while Gary executed a tight grid search with his detector.
Gary started at three feet deep and worked his way deeper.
He hit a few random targets, but nothing with that distinct gold tone.
He kept digging anyway.
After about 30 minutes, Gary pushed out into 4.5 feet of water.
BOOM.
A loud, low-tone target blasted through his headphones. Gary knew instantly: this was the wedding ring. 🎯
But there was a catch. The target was trapped under decayed vegetation and a layer of compacted, rock-hard clay and sand.
Gary’s scoop couldn’t break through.
So, the duo improvised:
Gary held his detector coil directly over the target to lock down the location. 📍
Matt took a deep breath, dove to the bottom, and grabbed a massive handful of the leaves, roots, and debris. 🌿
They brought the pile to the surface together to sift through it.
As they cleared away the mud and branches… a beautiful white gold ring appeared! 💎✨
🇺🇸 The Best Way to Spend July 4th.
Mission accomplished!
Matt let out a massive celebratory yell, smiling ear to ear. They headed back to shore, where Matt couldn’t wait to call Sam with the life-saving news.
What a phenomenal way to spend the 4th of July weekend—in the water, saving the day, and making sure a piece of family history wasn’t lost forever.
Happy 250th Anniversary, America!
This is a holiday Matt and Gary will never forget. 🏛️❤️
Later that afternoon, Matt sent a text:
“Thank you so much for setting this up and I’m so excited we found it. Have a GREAT 4TH.”
Talking with Gary later, he perfectly summed up why we do this:
“I really do have the best job in the world, and I love my job.” 🥰
Lost something valuable in the water or sand? Don’t wait—time is critical! Call The Ring Finders of Maine at 207-423-3027
Remember: “If it matters to you, it matters to us”
