Lost Ring in the ocean – Found Oak Island NC Tag | The Ring Finders

Man’s Platinum Wedding Band Lost in the Surf – Found and Returned Caswell Beach N.C.

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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On Tuesday night, about 7:30 p.m., I received an email from Richard. It stated, “Hi Jim, I found your name on theringfinders.com. My family and I are in Caswell Beach/Oak Island for the week and I lost my wedding ring in the ocean today so wondering if you have any availability to help us look for it. I lost it around 2:30-2:45pm today (7/14), I was jumping waves with my 5 year old so we were in knee deep water. The ring is a platinum wedding band. Let me know what other info you need from me, Thanks for your help, Richard.”  I knew he lost it right at high tide, and with the hour drive to Caswell Beach, I could get there about an hour before low tide. I responded to his email with my phone number and said “call me.” I grabbed my Equinox 800, and headed north. Along the way, I emailed Richard again saying I was on my way, with an ETA of 8:30 pm. Within a few minutes, Richard called me and gave me the address.

When I arrived, Richard was waiting outside; we introduced ourselves, and headed for the beach. Richard showed me the area where he had lost his ring, pointing out his wife, Kathryn, who was in the wet sand. I asked Kathryn what she remembered, she pointed to a sand castle where they had been sitting. She said her and their other 2 children were out a little farther in the water, while Richard and their 5 year old were to the right of the sand castle and in more shallow water. I told them I expected the ring to be closer to the higher tide line and then started a perpendicular grid search in the middle of the search area. As I’m working my way out from the center line, I look down and see my coil dangling from the shaft. This was not good, from all aspects! The rabbit ears holding the coil to the shaft had broken and there was no way to fix it. I always take 2 metal detectors on ring searches, but I was so confident that this would be an easy, 10 minute search at the most, that I just grabbed one detector. To keep from having to come back in the morning, I wrapped the cord around the shaft as tight as it would go, and literally drug the coil on top of the sand to detect. It wasn’t the best solution, but it worked. About 45 minutes into the search and almost at the end of the search area, I got a great signal. I dug a scoop of sand, tried my best to check the hole with the coil, and was sure I had it. I took my foot and spread the wet sand out, turned my headlamp on in the pitch black night and nothing. This was definitely not my best showing, especially in front of the person that lost their treasure that I’m trying to find. Ok, I used both hands to pick up bits of the sand and shells, crushing it between my fingers in hopes of feeling the ring. Bingo, felt it in my hand.  I held the ring over my backlight to confirm it was what I was looking for, it was. I walked up to Richard, giving him the sad story about not being able to find it. He understood and as he was saying it was time to call it a night, I held the ring up. With the help of the detector backlight he could see his ring. He texted Kathryn real quick, and she comes back out on the beach. Richard had his treasure back on his finger where it belonged.

Richard and Kathryn – thank you for allowing me to help find your lost treasure. Have a great rest of your vacation and a safe trip home.

Jim

     

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Lady’s Family Heirloom Platinum Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean on Oak Island, NC. – Found and Returned

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I received a call at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Father’s Day, from Julie saying she had lost her platinum wedding band in the ocean sometime between 1 – 4 pm. She also said that during that time she had ridden a boogie board, and played some football. I asked how deep she thought she was and she stated from ankle to about 4 ½ feet. A quick check of the tide tables and it didn’t look good. Low tide was right around 2 p.m. and the hour drive would get me there almost at high tide, I didn’t have a chance. I told Julie I’d be there the next afternoon before low tide at 2:55 p.m.

I had a lost ring search in a back yard set for the next morning, but was able to reschedule. I texted Julie and told her I’d be there close to noon. I figured I could start at the high tide line and work my way out to the low tide line and beyond. When I arrived the next day, Julie met me in the driveway of their rental and led me around to the beach access and out to meet her husband, Lonny. This is about when Julie shared that the center stone in the ring belonged to Lonny’s grandmother, and that they were here on vacation to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. I felt the pressure!! Standing on the beach, I asked Julie to tell me how she lost the ring again, what she was doing and where she was at. She showed me the area of a sand bar that she had been boogie boarding around and thought that it may have been where she lost it. I then asked Lonny what he remembered. He thought she probably lost it in the area where they were playing football, because that’s where they had been rough housing, too. I found it helps when I get everybody’s story and piece it together, what one forgets the other remembers – sometimes!

I had brought a couple of detectors, and PVC pipes to mark the areas. The pipe was to help me keep a better grid line. I had Julie and Lonny show me where they thought were the outside bounders for the area. I started at the high tide line and worked my way out pass the low tide line, grid searching both parallel and perpendicular to the shoreline. I made it out to the sand bar and did a good grid with nothing. I knew if the ring was lost on the ocean side of the sand bar, I had little chance of finding it in the washing machine action it’d go through. After what I felt was a very thorough search with no luck, I took a short break and came up with plan B. I asked Julie when she noticed that she didn’t have the ring on and she said it was after getting cleaned up and in the house. So now I’m thinking the soft sand may have to be searched just to rule it out. I asked Julie and Lonny if they wanted to help search, which they agreed to, and showed them how to use my White’s PI. Shortly after, I saw Julie pass the detector off to Lonny, it’s a pretty heavy machine, and he made his way back out towards the sand bar. He was struggling, and without a scoop, if he did get a target he had nothing to dig it with. At some point I decided I’d expand the search area, both on the east and west sides. I knew the platinum ring would show a VDI on the equinox 800 somewhere between 6 and 9, depending on the weight. Lonny’s thinner platinum wedding band rang up as a 3. After about a 3 hour search, and running out of real estate.  Just outside the original search area, I got a solid target showing a 9 on the VDI. Bingo!!! Two scoops and I had the target out of the hole. I gently washed the sand out in the surf and heard the special “twang” you get when there’s metal in the scoop. I looked in the scoop and there it was. Lonny was close, so I called him over. I told him don’t get excited but is this Julie’s ring. He wasn’t positive, because he’d never seen it off her finger, but thought so. I told Lonny, let’s surprise Julie, but I had to get my camera. When we got back up to where I had my gear, I made it sound like I was getting a drink. Lonny put on a great performance telling Julie I had another question. The video tells it all!!! Her response is why I love being a Ring Finder.

Julie and Lonny – thank you so much for trusting me to find your lost treasure. It was great to meet you both.

Jim

   

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Man’s White Gold Wedding Band Lost, Recovered and Returned at Oak Island, NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Sunday night I got an e-mail from Daniel G. telling me he had lost his wedding band on the beach at Oak Island, NC the previous Friday. In the e-mail he asked if I would be willing to drive to Oak Island and see if I could find it. I responded saying yes that it’d be no problem and then asked the normal questions – where on the beach, the time he lost it and the ring description.

The next morning Daniel had followed up with his responses as well as calling me. He knew exactly where he had been, what time it was and even down to the number of paces it was from the soft sand into the high tide line. Looking at the current tide tables, I saw I had about 4 hours before high tide so I headed out for the hour drive up there. Once I got to the beach I followed his directions and he couldn’t have been more exact on where it was. On my third grid line, in ankle deep water I got the signal. Two scoops and I had his wedding band in my hand. I took a picture of his ring and sent it to him with a text saying “Bingo”. While I’m standing on the beach waiting for his response, I noticed two ladies walking towards me. They walked up to me and introduced themselves as Daniel’s mother and his Aunt and informed me that Daniel had called them that morning letting them know I was going to be looking for it. They thought they’d come down and watch. I told them I had already found it and had sent Daniel a picture and text and was waiting for his response. Neither one of them could believe I had found it and were really surprised and excited for Daniel. Shortly after Daniel called and was very excited about his ring. He told me to go ahead and give it to his mother, which was good so it didn’t have to be mailed. A great ending to another lost ring story.

Daniel – Thank you for trusting me to find your lost treasure.

Jim

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