While relaxing on their friend’s boat dock Father’s Day weekend, Iowa resident Matt (last name) felt his titanium wedding ring slip off his finger. He watched helplessly as it landed on the wooden planks, bounced and then rolled through a large crack out of sight into the murky water beneath.
Matt and his friend, Jad, searched for a number of hours that evening, diving and sifting through the mud, weeds, stones and zebra shells, all to no avail. It had to be there under the dock, but try as they might, they couldn’t find it. Did a fish swallow it? Stranger things have happened.
I received a text from Matt the next morning. He and his wife were leaving to drive home to Iowa. Would I be willing to search for his ring?
After contacting Jad, I arranged a search early that afternoon. Once on location in the neck-deep water under the boat dock, I encountered a cacophony of signals. The lake bottom under and around the dock was full of metallic debris. Metal cans, fishing lures, bolts, nails, coins, bottle caps, pull tabs… But no ring! To make matters worse, the remains of old dock moorings, re-bar and metal pipes kept overwhelming the non-ferrous targets, making it almost impossible to discriminate the iron. Chad’s ring, being made of titanium, added another challenge; the unique metal can act in strange ways when other metal is present.
It was a small search area and so the only option was to systematically remove every metallic object under the dock. Eventually, using this strategy, Chad’s wedding ring found its way into my scoop and into the light of day! Mission accomplished once again. In Chad’s absence his friend, Jad, posed with the ring for posterity.
So glad to have found your ring, Matt! May its story continue for many years to come.
Glad to see you have been getting some calls Paul! Docks can definitely be challenging and like you said one must clear out the junk to find the treasure! Keep up the good work and hope you are feeling well these days. Mike in sunny Florida