Recovery Status: FOUND
Location: Lake Huron at Port Elgin (Saugeen Shores), Ontario
Item: Late Brother’s Gold Heirloom Wedding Ring
Environment: Lakebed / Chest-High Water (~3–4 Feet Deep)
Recovery Specialist: Don Clark (Dispatched via James Mathias & Alison Walker / Ontario Ring Recovery Services Network)
Equipment Used: Waterproof Water Metal Detector & GPS Coordinate Mapping
Search Time: Under 20 minutes
Date of Recovery: August 1, 2026
When a late-night call comes in from someone who just lost a priceless family heirloom, every minute counts. That is exactly what happened when Arnold reached out to Ontario Ring Recovery Services after accidentally dropping his late brother’s wedding ring into the waters of Lake Huron at Port Elgin.
As is standard protocol for every SOS call, the first thing I asked Arnold to do was head straight to the exact spot. Since he quickly handed the phone over to his wife to help explain the details, she clarified that they were standing right in the water, which was roughly three to four feet deep. I had him open Google Maps, pinpoint that exact location in the lake, and text me a screenshot. As it turns out, that simple step may have saved the entire mission.
While I scrambled to find a local specialist to keep costs reasonable for Arnold, my network came through in a big way. Alison Walker
Alison Walker
“Probably one of the best Recovery specialists in Ontario” pointed me toward Don Clark—a seasoned recovery expert who had officially retired from another recovery service several years ago. After a quick introductory text exchange, Don was back in action, interested in helping out and asking for Arnold’s contact info.
The Power of the Pinned Map
The handoff hit a minor snag when Arnold realized he had accidentally deleted the original screenshot from his phone before sharing the coordinates with Don. Fortunately, because he had sent the image to me personally first, I was able to pull up the chat history, grab the exact geo-tagged photo, and forward it directly to Don. Within minutes, Don had the coordinates punched into Google Maps.
The next morning, Don arrived on site. Armed with years of water recovery experience and the exact coordinates from the map, it did not take long for his sweep to pay off. The pinpoint was spot on, and the ring was successfully plucked from the lakebed within 20 minutes.
Don quickly connected with Arnold for an emotional and joyful reunification, handing back the irreplaceable wedding band.
this is one of the big differences between Ontario’s Ring Recovery Services and well ( other recovery specialist) lol, here at “ORRS” we want to help you get your items back safely. I could have said we don’t have anyone in the area, and let it go. But that’s not what we do.
Our reach is fairly significant. We have thousands of contacts through our social outlets, and it’s important for me personally to make sure I can help if I can. A little effort can mean a lot to someone if they can get that item back that may hold so many memories for them.
It makes me feel good that I can help even if it’s not me personally that finds the lost item.
At the end of the day, another lost treasure is safely back where it belongs—and another incredible story gets added to the history books for Ontario’s Ring Recovery Services.
Once again a HUGE THANK YOU to Don for saving the day.
Later that night to thank myself and Don for helping Arnold sent me his story & his interpretation of what had unfolded. Take a look.
From Arnold
“A few years ago I lost my brother in a motorcycle accident. When he passed I inherited his gold ring .This ring is one of the only things I have left to remember him by. Thursday afternoon I was at the beach with my kids in chest high water when the ring fell off of my finger. We looked for hours with no luck before I had to make the heart breaking decision to stop searching. I called a gentleman (James Mathias) from Ontario Ring Recovery Services who was a recovery specialist but he was about 8 hours away and didn’t have anyone nearby to my location that was able to help me.
Instead of just washing his hands of my situation he started contacting people for me and found someone who was willing to search for my late brothers ring.
James passed my info on to a man named Don who showed up on the beach and was in the water by 8am the next morning. The search did not take long, maybe 20 ish minutes? Don was handing me my brothers ring back by 8:30AM”
If you or someone you know has lost an item that requires a detectorist? Don’t hesitate, give us a call, we’ll be happy to help. I’m James Mathias the founder of Ontario’s Ring Recovery Services, feel free to call/text any time,
we can be reached at
(613)-876-8167
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