A Spanish fisherman got more than he bargained for in his nets this week when, among his catch he uncovered a digital camera.
More amazing was the fact that the camera was still in perfect working order and the memory still contained photographs.
Rather than throw the camera overboard, trawlerman Benito Estevez uploaded photographs from the camera’s memory card onto the internet where they quickly spread around the globe in an effort to find the camera’s rightful owner.
One photo showed a man wearing a woolly tourist hat from Oxford, another shows a woman posing with the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise liner in the background.
Laura De Klein recognised the couple as friends of the family and contacted them with the news. Understandably stunned, she said: “When I rang them to say their camera had been found they just couldn’t believe it. They were totally thrilled”.
Dennis and Barbara Gregory lost the Nikon P90 camera whilst travelling from New York to Southampton aboard the Queen Mary 2 in October 2008. It was knocked overboard as the couple rushed to watch a pod of dolphins that were sighted off the bow of the ship.
Mrs Gregory, 53, said: “We jumped up and rushed to the side and it happened – Dennis didn’t have the camera strapped round his neck and it slipped out of his hands.”
She went on to thank Mr Estevez saying: “To think the Spanish fishermen has gone to such efforts on this – it’s very touching.”
The camera spent an incredible year and a half on the seabed and considering the incredible pressure at such depths it is astounding that the photographs survived, it is even more astounding that the owners were identified.
