A scuba diver has been reunited with a camera lost in the North Sea three years ago after it washed up 600 miles away in Sweden – in full working order.
Adele Devonshire, 37, was diving off St Abbs in Berwickshire, Scotland, when the clip holding her camera snapped.
After a search of the shore in July 2013 she gave up hope of ever seeing the Fuji camera and waterproof case ever again.
But she was astonished when she saw an online post last week by Lars Mossberg, 57, who found it perched on a rock on the shore of a small Swedish island.
The plastic housing was covered in scratches, but despite having travelled across the North Sea, the camera turned on first time – without even being charged.
Father-of-two Mr Mossberg tracked down Mrs Devonshire by posting some of her photos – of her father and her husband – to a ‘Lost at Sea’ Facebook group where they were seen by a friend.
It took just five hours to find Mrs Devonshire, after the pictures were recognised by a pal who had been on the dive when she lost it three years earlier.
Mother-of-two Mrs Devonshire, an ecologist from Manningtree, Suffolk, said: “It’s mad really. I’m still shocked.
“To think that it had presumably been bobbing around in the sea for all that time – and still works – is remarkable. It just goes to show the power of the internet and the kindness of people.”
Management consultant Mr Mossberg added: “The more I think about it and the journey it has been on, the more exciting it is. It’s really very, very good.”
Mrs Devonshire only discovered she had lost the camera when she surfaced following a dive, and was gutted when she could not claim it back on her insurance.
Mr Mossberg lives in a fishing village called Gullholmen, which is on a 31 hectare island of the same name, and home to just 90 people and no cars – just boats.
He spotted the camera amongst sea grass and shells on the rock coastline during his daily morning stroll a couple of weeks ago.
“I don’t know why I looked down at it but I saw something orange,” he said. “I left it for a while when I took it home because I didn’t believe it would work.”
After leaving it to dry out, he prised open the waterproof cover to find a perfectly unharmed camera inside which turned on without a problem.
He added: “There were 400 to 500 photos, from all different places. I could see the last photo was from around July 2013, and a diving trip, so was amazed it had reached me.”
After listening to the voice on movies on the camera he thought it must belong to a Briton, so posted a few photos of Mrs Devonshire’s husband Paul and father Roger to Lost At Sea.
The photos were posted at around 5.30pm on Friday, and remarkably were spotted by Mrs Devonshire’s friend by 10.30pm that night. She had only joined the 2,500 member group that day.
Mr Mossberg verified Mrs Devonshire was the owner by asking her some questions about the photos, and was set to post it back to her on Monday.
Mrs Devonshire added: “I never did buy a new one so I’m really looking forward to getting it back. It has been on quite the journey.”
