Stranger uses his metal detector to help man find ring lost at sea

(Image credit: iStock)

published 27 July 2018

While at the beach with his family earlier this week, Dan Cross made a sad discovery when he got out of the water: he had lost his wedding ring while diving in the waves.

Cross told BBC News he spent an hour trying to find the ring, and then looked online for help. Through a directory called Ring Finders, he contacted Richard Higham, who uses a metal detector to try to locate missing items. He met Cross at the beach in Bournemouth, England, on Tuesday, and moved quickly, as tides cause rings to move and go deeper until they are out of the metal detector's range.

After two hours of searching underwater, Higham emerged, holding Cross' ring. "I was completely elated and the emotion hit me," Cross told BBC News. "I got a bit of a tear in my eye and I couldn't believe it." Higham, who only asks that people cover his travel costs and make a donation to charity in return for his help, said grateful people like Cross "inspire me to go to the lengths that I go to. It's such a nice feeling to help people find things that they thought were lost forever."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox