Hardings Beach, Chatham, MA Held a Lost Ring Overnight. Ring Found and Returned.

On July 21, 2023 a wide wedding band was lost at Hardings Beach. Ethan, a town lifeguard knew of TheRingFinders and had fellow lifeguard Jamieson call me and relay information about Ethan’s great-grandmother’s wedding band being lost the previous evening by great-granddaughter Katie. I was later told by Katie that “My great-grandmother, Margarita, wore the ring since the 1970s until her passing when it was passed down to my mother who was gracious enough to let me wear it. Of course I was careless one time and the one time it slipped right off my finger into the ocean. Thankfully Jamieson got in touch with you.”

Forty-five minutes after receiving the call I was at the beach getting ready for a quick search. First the slope to the water’s edge was covered until a signal was heard, dug and a ring was retrieved. Unfortunately it was a gold plated ring with a fake diamond. Ethan called Katie’s mother and it was confirmed the ring was not the one I was searching for. Back to the search…

I finished detecting over the slope with no other targets and proceeded into the water. Again no results. I increased the search areas both along the face of the slope, down into the water a bit further from the shore. Again no results. Another conversation with Ethan revealed that he and Katie had swam to the buoy and back. That was a bit of bad news as the tide was coming in and I could not wade too much further away from the beach. But I did manage to get out to shoulder depth and worked the tide back in. On the third pass I had a good signal, dang, a screw off bottle cap. About another five feet and another great signal. This one gave me a bit of challenge getting it into my scoop. I had to prevail over the cloudy water and increasing wave action which I did before seeing what had to be the object of my search. This time it was the ring of my search!

Back on the beach it was decided that I would follow Ethan to Katie’s home. What a beautiful facade awaited us. At the entrance way I met Katie. her mother and father. What a story going back 3 generations. Not sure if I would get all the facts correct I turned on a new cell phone app to record the story. I gave it a go and I think it all went well. The smiles, pictures and thanks made for a perfect ending to this return.