A one-man lost-and-found department
Recovery diver Cory Devereau specializes in finding lost rings, watches and other valuable items that go for a swim without their owners.
Photo by Milton Morris
Cory Devereau
Age: 66.
Hometown: York.
Claim to fame: Recovery diver with a history of finding items when others fail.
When he’s not diving: Tends to a family garden filled with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Previous gigs: Semi-retired after nearly 40 years as a federal contractor; worked for five years as a hunting and fishing guide in New Hampshire.
Current project: Actively seeking younger divers who want to learn his search techniques. “I need to teach as many people as I can before I pass away or this knowledge will all be lost.”
Website: lostring.org
Over the past four decades, scuba diver Cory Devereau has found more coins, gold necklaces, bracelets and diamond rings than he can remember. But instead of hustling down to the nearest pawn shop to cash in on his finds, Devereau has delivered those items to their rightful owners.
“It’s never been about the money,” says Devereau. “My ultimate goal has always been to return to people lost items of great sentimental value that I call treasures of the heart.”
Most of Devereau’s work takes place in less than 20 feet of water along lake shorelines and around boat docks. He has conducted searches from Maine to the Florida Keys and as far west as the Arkansas River, but these days he specializes in recovering lost items in South Carolina lakes. He charges a modest $125 retainer fee and 30 percent (or less) of the appraised value of the recovered item.
Working with a well-worn scuba rig, a remarkably sensitive underwater metal detector and a regularly practiced grid system for conducting searches, Devereau has reunited hundreds of items with immensely grateful owners who thought their personal treasures were gone forever.
Among his notable finds: a Greek coin minted more than 2,000 years ago and a woman’s ring with no fewer than seven large Marquise diamonds that ended up on the bottom of Lake Champlain. The owner searched for the ring every summer for the next seven years before she called Devereau. He located that treasure of the heart in 18 minutes.
“This is like a religion to me,” Devereau says. “I get immense joy from finding these items and returning them to their owners. If I was rich, I would do this for everyone for free—forever.”