How a McMaster University class ring, lost in 1977 in the Atlantic Ocean off Barbados, made it home

It’s not unusual for McMaster University’s alumni office to hear from someone looking to get in touch with a person who went to the Hamilton school.

But a recent request was “unique” and resulted in an unexpected reunion, director of alumni engagement Karen McQuigge told CBC Hamilton.

In mid-October, a diver in Barbados reached out to say he’d found a McMaster class ring from 1965 that was buried underwater near Miami Beach. The gold ring had the initials “FMP” engraved on it and if possible, the diver, Alex Davis, wanted to return it to its original owner.

McQuigge said her team searched their database and only one name matched the initials: Morgan Perigo, a math major who graduated from the faculty of science in 1965. Fortunately, Perigo kept his contact information up to date with the alumni office. 

“If he hadn’t done that, we probably would not have been able to find him,” McQuigge said.

The alumni office reached out and Perigo responded, saying he’d lost his ring on a family trip to Barbados in 1977, McQuigge said. Perigo told them that while wading in the ocean one day, a wave knocked his son over. When Perigo reached out to grab him, his son pulled on his hand and the ring came off. They searched but couldn’t find it. 

CBC Hamilton couldn’t reach Perigo prior to publication.  

Grad ring was ‘a hell of a find’ 

Forty-seven years after Perigo lost the ring, “the stars aligned and the water was clear,” Davis told CBC Hamilton. “Mr. Perigo’s ring was a hell of a find.”

Davis is a free diver and spear fisherman who runs a diving company near the village of Oistins. Since Hurricane Beryl in the summer, the sand around the island has shifted, he said, exposing hidden items. He took up metal detecting to see what he could find.

On Oct. 16, Davis was snorkelling with his detector when it alerted him to something in the sand. Davis dug down at least 15 centimetres and all he found were rocks, but the metal detector kept beeping, so he kept going. After digging roughly another 15 centimetres deep, Davis said, he saw a flash of gold. 

“It catches your eye like nothing else,” he said. “Your heart starts to race.”

Diver tries to return lost valuables

Davis has shared photos of his finds on social media site Reddit. He’s mostly got coins, fishing weights, bottle caps and rusty nails, but told CBC Hamilton he has found the occasional item of value, including a University of Toronto professor’s phone and wallet. In cases like that, Davis said, he makes the effort to return the lost items.

“I don’t do this just to keep all the gold for myself. I do want people to get their things back,” he said. “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.”

The class ring is a bulky gold piece with a maroon gem. Despite decades under the sea, it’s in good condition, Davis said. The day he found it, he contacted McMaster and within two days, he was in touch with Perigo.

Davis said he mailed the ring late last month and it arrived at Perigo’s home in Burlington, Ont., the day before Perigo’s 83rd birthday.

“What are the chances?!” Davis wrote in a Friday post on Reddit.

Perigo is now “proudly” wearing his class ring, McQuigge said, adding it’s been “wonderful” for her team to be part of the reunification. 

“It is really nice in this day and age when we don’t always hear all the greatest stories,” she said. “Kudos to Alex because he’s the one who found it and took that initiative.”

Davis said after all the effort, he had a moment of panic when a delivery person left the ring outside Perigo’s residence instead of delivering it by hand. 

“I’m like, ‘Please, please let there not be any porch pirates in Canada,'” Davis recounted.

But Perigo successfully retrieved his sunken treasure. Davis said they spoke briefly on his birthday and Perigo was very appreciative. 

“It’s just good to do the right thing.”