CNN
—

One day before Morgan Perigo’s 83rd birthday last month, an unexpected package showed up on her doorstep. Inside was his 1965 McMaster University graduation ring, which he lost in 1977.

The package was from Alex Davis, a professional freediver and spearfisherman who runs a tourism business in Barbados.

In a week when the tourist trade has slowed, Davis checked webcams showing a spot of interest that had been hit by Hurricane Beryl earlier in the year.

“So, areas that look like a beautiful beach, you can suddenly see all these rocks appear… With that kind of thinking, I thought, right, are there some areas I want to go to now? “A lot of sand was removed.”

Diving with a metal detector, Davis initially found the usual rusted nails, bottle caps and coins. Then he noticed something interesting about the coins.

“They were from the ’70s and ’80s, and I started thinking: Wow, I’m clearly in an area where we have a lot of old stuff,” he said.

Then the metal detector started beeping with a different tone. Knowing that his tone meant gold, he started digging.

After examining layers of sand, dead coral and rock, Davis uncovered a ring with a deep red stone in the center. While still underwater, he noticed that the ring was not worn and had a jeweler’s mark on it; This was a sign that it was made of pure gold.

When he returned to land, Davis enlarged the engraving to reveal the words “McMaster University 1965” and the initials “FMP.”

“When I saw that, I said, ‘Okay, there’s definitely enough information here to get this to the person. We’ve got the school, we’ve got the graduation year, we’ve got our three initials.’”

Davis immediately called the McMaster University website and sent a message to the university’s general alumni email alias, said Karen McQuigge, the school’s director of alumni relations.

The email described how Davis discovered the ring and personal information in the engraving that could help the university identify the ring’s owner.

McQuigge said it’s normal for people to want to reconnect with old friends, but this is unusual. He asked the university’s merger coordinator to help find someone with the initials FMP.

The search narrowed down to Frederick Morgan Perigo, whose initials were Morgan, and the school immediately notified him.

“Fortunately, Morgan is a really good graduate and has retained his knowledge from the university after all these years. That was the other concern we had; 1965 was quite a long time ago. Could that person still be alive? he said.

Perigo said he was stunned to hear the ring had been found.

Perigo told McQuigge how he lost the ring during a trip to Barbados with his family in 1977. His son was knocked over by a wave, and as he held his son’s hand and pulled him out, the ring slipped off his finger and fell into the sea.

Alumni staff forwarded Perigo’s contact information to Davis.

Davis contacted Perigo, who thanked him profusely and told the story of how he lost the ring and shared another incredible detail.

Perigo’s birthday is coming up, Davis said. “So, I was like, oh my God, this story can’t get any better. Didn’t we find it at the bottom of the sea after 47 years? But I also found him a week before his birthday.”

Davis packaged the ring and took it to FedEx to expedite international shipping so it could get there before Perigo’s birthday.

“This ring was underwater for 47 years, so I’m pretty sure he gave it up and thought it was gone forever,” Davis said.

CNN was unable to reach Perigo for comment.

The experience was satisfying for Davis, and he said he would want to do it again if he found another ring containing his credentials.

“He got the ring in 1965 and he was still wearing it in 1977, which I think shows that it really meant a lot to him at the time,” McQuigge said.