Thanks to diver Adam Whitehead, Chris Brightmore got his wedding ring back from the ocean.
When Chris Brightmore and his wife visited his family in Dubai, he decided to enjoy a swim at Kite Beach in Jumeira. When we emerged from the water, he looked at his left hand and noticed his wedding ring was missing. A ring that was on his finger for 51 years had slipped off.
Panicked, Chris immediately dove back into the sea to search for the ring underwater. After sifting through the sand, he still couldn’t find it. “I said a little prayer while I was swimming around,” said Chris to Grimsby Telegraph. “For some reason, I said to myself, ‘I am going to find this ring’.”
Chris still couldn’t find it and felt devastated, hoping not to disappoint his wife when he told her the news. Expecting a lecture or at least a frown, Chris was uplifted when his wife didn’t get mad, but got active. She spent the next hour helping Chris search for his wedding band along the shore and in the ocean, but they couldn’t find it. How could they? They didn’t have any snorkels or any equipment to help them.
They had all but given up until Chris’ son-in-law Philip suggested they post their story to British Dads in Dubai, asking for any help that could be provided. The community not only listened, but stepped up. Chris was floored.
“Among the dozens of kindly responses, one man offered to loan us his underwater metal detector and another said he had his own jewelry shop and that he would make me a replacement as close to the original as possible and, because of the intensely sentimental value, he would give it to me for free,” said Chris.
Out of all the responses, Chris humbly accepted the offer to use a person’s metal detector. Two days after he lost it, Chris and Philip went back to the beach armed with the metal detector, snorkels, and face masks. The hunt was on.
Chris decided to improve his chances of finding his wedding ring by using a borrowed metal detector.Photo credit: Canva
After two hours, the two still couldn’t find it and frankly couldn’t stay underwater long enough to do a thorough search. As they continued, a couple swam up to them and asked if Chris was the “gentleman who lost his wedding ring.”
“The man said, ‘Well for someone who has been married that long and has never had the ring off his finger until now, it would be my honour to help you find it, if you would allow me’,” Chris recounted. “It turned out that he was a former professional diver who liked to dive in Dubai as a hobby at weekends.”
Chris got additional help from a professional ocean diver.Photo credit: Canva
After two more hours of searching ten feet deep underwater under three inches of sand, Chris’ new diver friend, Adam Whitehead, emerged from the water with the ring tightly gripped in his gloved fingers.
“This was a miracle in the Persian Gulf,” said Chris.
From right to left: Chris, his new diver friend Adam, and his son-in-law PhilipPhoto credit: Chris Brightmore/Grimsby Telegraph
Chris is a retired detective chief superintendent from London. He couldn’t have gotten that far in his career without conviction, hard work, and a little bit of stubborness. But he couldn’t have gotten his ring back if he didn’t ask for help. Asking his wife and son-in-law for help started a community chain of strangers offering their resources and expertise, happily and with no need of reward.
Aside from this being a unique “lost and found” story, this is also a reminder to us all that if you need a hand, just ask. You never know who will turn up to assist you.