$25,000 wedding ring dropped off dock

[Rorzech]

Never swim at a marina, that's the perfect place to get electrocuted from faulty electrical systems in boats hooked up to shore power ! DANGER !

[RaymondR]

If the waters not to deep you could rig an air lift in about five minutes from a length of poly pipe and wave it around the bottom without leaving the dock or the vessel.

In the matter of property title:

If the owner has accepted an insurance payment they have abandoned recovery. There was a case of a gold shipment which was lost from a paddle steamer during the civil war and salvaged in modern times. The insurer placed a claim on the gold and it went to the courts, don't know how it turned out but for an item worth $25,000 there should be a substantial reward for recovery even if title remains with the insurer.

[Mikado]

Since jewelry platinum is magnetic, before investing in a metal detector I'd go magnet fishing. You most certainly will find a number of items, whether or not the ring is one of them.

Have fun !!

Jeff

[El Pinguino]

If on a finders keepers basis you would have two ways to go...

$25,000 retail so probably $5k through a high street jeweller or $10k through a fence.....

[Wotname]

Or impress the new wife...

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

If the waters not to deep you could rig an air lift in about five minutes from a length of poly pipe and wave it around the bottom without leaving the dock or the vessel.

In the matter of property title:

If the owner has accepted an insurance payment they have abandoned recovery. There was a case of a gold shipment which was lost from a paddle steamer during the civil war and salvaged in modern times. The insurer placed a claim on the gold and it went to the courts, don't know how it turned out ........

IIRC
There was a tussle about what court had jurisdiction but the guy's who recovered the gold managed to get it into their preferred court. The judgement went in their favour - essentially because the court accepted the argument that the insurers had made no effort at all over the previous century to recover the gold, especially considering it was not a trifling amount; they had simply abandoned it and only got interested the someone else had done the hard yards.

EDIT: Apparently there is now another lawsuit in play; this time between someone else (i.e. not the insurers) and the recovery company - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Republic_(1853)

[keyway]

Diving under docks is fun you can find all sorts of stuff. I found a loaded 45. once. Worth at least one dive. Depending on the bottom you might see it with a bright light. Diving in marinas has its own risks like getting pooped on electrocution or run over. Some marinas will only let contractors dive. I say go for it

[Alita49DS]

Originally Posted by Wotname

You reckon the insurance company would pay in Kimberly currency

Nah, finders keepers is the way to go, the insurers clearly haven't taken any effort to find it (or were unsuccessful) so that should negate their claim of ownership!

Being in the water, does this come under maritime salvage laws .

I hope that those who think that "finders, keepers" is honest will feel the same way next time they lose their wallet somewhere and the person who picks it up spends their money.

Quite apart from that, there is no such concept. It is a criminal offence. For obvious reasons. You have not abandoned your wallet. The finder knows that, and knows that it belongs to another. Another does not have to be identified in the mind of the finder. Finding it is no more a defence to theft than taking it of your pocket.

Likewise, most civilised countries have laws as to treasure trove.

I am sure that no member of CF would wish to be other than civilised and honest.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Alita49DS

I hope that those who think that "finders, keepers" is honest will feel the same way next time they lose their wallet somewhere and the person who picks it up spends their money.

Quite apart from that, there is no such concept. It is a criminal offence. For obvious reasons. You have not abandoned your wallet. The finder knows that, and knows that it belongs to another. Another does not have to be identified in the mind of the finder. Finding it is no more a defence to theft than taking it of your pocket.

Likewise, most civilised countries have laws as to treasure trove.

I am sure that no member of CF would wish to be other than civilised and honest.

Err... we are talking about a wedding ring dropped in the water and whose owner doesn't not want it back.

The only question is whether the insurance company wants it back or not and seeing as they haven't bothered to search for it, it seems they might not. However they might be willing to pay the going diving rate on a no result no pay basis.

Otherwise it going to be finders keepers

However I agree with your points regarding a lost wallet or other unknown finds.

[Tellie]

Ah, next to watermakers I'm a metal detector geek as well. It is absolutely possible with a good detector and a bit of experience to find such a ring in such conditions. In fact under a dock is prime hunting grounds. I use a MineLab Excaliber for underwater hunts. I have found lots of lost jewelry. Below is a wedding ring I just found for this woman about a month ago. I get approached many times to help look for lost jewelry, mostly wedding rings. I also have a collection of rings I've found on my own . Pardon the outfit, that's my lucky hat and I had already been out for about four hours in the water.

[SailFastTri]

Maybe she didn't lose it on the dock? Maybe she was having an affair and lost it where she shouldn't have been, and this was a convenient cover story? Just sayin?

[Hoodsail]

Years ago my rudder with tiller went overboard while 16 ft daysailer was tied up at the dock off the east river in guilford, connecticut. I hired a diver who searched the area about 3 hours after it went over, for 1 hour and found nothin'. Silty bottom, visibility measured in inches, and 3-4 knot current with the tides complicated matters, so agree with Ann...good news i found a rudder on line that i customized to fit my boat for less than $100. Come to think of it the diver never told me if he found anything else of value during his search. So when and where was that diamond ring lost???thnks dave

[RSH]

Originally Posted by keyway

Diving under docks is fun you can find all sorts of stuff. I found a loaded 45. once. Worth at least one dive. Depending on the bottom you might see it with a bright light. Diving in marinas has its own risks like getting pooped on electrocution or run over. Some marinas will only let contractors dive. I say go for it

Or a dead body-they just fished one poor guy out of the marina. He was found by a diver cleaning the bottom of one of the boats.

As a woman with wedding rings that she treasures (and that aren't worth 25k omg), my take on the woman losing her ring and not appearing to care that much about the loss is that it might have been new and not had that much sentimental value to her yet, or she was hammered when she lost it, which is why she can't remember where it fell off. Drunk people do a lot of stupid things.

Since my rings have been on my fingers for over 25 years without falling off (I did knock a diamond out into a toilet once and you can bet your behind I successfully retrieved that sucker), I am not sure how you can lose a ring when you're on dry land (they can and do fall off when you're in cold water) unless you're being really careless.

[Tellie]

I got a box full of "I'll never lose this" Sunscreen is the best ring remover there is, as is cold water, weight loss, et. As far as electrocution around docks, it has happened. But we're not scooping bottom cleaners out of the drink.....wait...has anybody heard from FastBottoms lately?




PS: Give me a PM if you loose a $25K ring....anywhere.

[MarkSF]

It is my understanding that electrocution is a lower risk in salt water, than in fresh. Not zero, but much lower.