Photo: Alex Davis
The ocean floor holds many secrets—and many precious objects lost by people over the years. Such was the case of a man named Morgan Perigo, who lost his graduation ring during a trip to Barbados in 1977. Now 83 years old, Perigo had long given up on getting this sentimental relic back. That was until he got an email from his alma mater’s alumni office.
“One day I took my younger son and waded into the ocean,” Perigo explained to McMaster University in an email. “He was knocked over by a wave, so I reached to grab hold of him. He pulled on my hand and my Mac Alumni ring came off. We searched for it but were unsuccessful.” The man was a math major at the school in 1965, and the ring, a gold piece with a maroon gem, was a cherished memento of his time there.
Forty-seven years later, Alex Davis, who offers freediving lessons in Barbados, was browsing the ocean with his underwater metal detector in his free time—an activity that became more compelling after Hurricane Beryl shifted the sand around the island. While he often finds coins and nails, one day he made a truly thrilling discovery. After hearing the beep, Davis dug up about six inches of sand when he saw a flash of gold.
“I don’t do this just to keep all the gold for myself. I do want people to get their things back,” Davis told CBC. “Anyone who’s been around the sea, diving or otherwise, you will eventually lose plenty of things that make a donation to the sea gods…It’s just nice to think that you might get it back some day.”
While he was able to identify the university, getting the owner’s name was trickier. Hoping to return it to its long-lost owner, Davis reached out to the school. “I found a McMaster University signet ring with three initials on the inside,” he wrote, sharing that the three initials engraved inside were FMP. “I found it metal detecting in Barbados this morning and suspect it’s been lost for some time.”
Alumni officer Laura Escalante set out to connect the dots, eventually narrowing the search down to Perigo, who she reached out to via email. “This is unbelievable news,” he wrote back. Once the mystery was settled, Davis shipped the ring to Canada. In a final twist of serendipity, the package arrived shortly before Perigo’s birthday, who called it a “wonderful unexpected 83rd birthday present.”
Alex Davis: Website
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Alex Davis.
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