Ikelite Housing and Camera Returned From the Deep!

Ikelite rig travels 30 miles after diver loses it in the Irish Sea, only to be returned three months later

By: Eric Aubort

Ever wonder how resilient good quality housings are?  Read on and find out what one diver off the Island of Man in the Irish Sea discovered about his Ikelite housing.

"Lost and Found"

As an underwater photographer, your gear and configuration become an extension of yourself after a period of time when diving.  If the unthinkable were to happen, such as the loss of your camera gear, it could very much ruin your day, to put it mildly.   If this were to happen while diving,  the odds of getting it back would be astronomical.  

I came across an article in the Isle of Man Newspaper (iomtoday.co.im) where a diver, diving off the Isle of Man, in the Irish sea lost his rig.  The diver was Dr. Ian Ross and he was diving a wreck off of the island and apparently lost it on his descent.  He said, "I think I must have forgotten to zip up the pocket on my dry suit and it fell out at the start of the dive. There were lots of pictures of the boat but none of the wreck."

The camera and housing  traveled 30 miles around the island and washed ashore on Douglas beach about 2 months later.  The Isle of Man is a self-governed, British Crown dependency,  between Great Britain and Ireland in the Irish Sea.  Dr. Ross lives in Chesire,  England. Roughly 100 miles south east of where the camera was found on the island.  

Angela Crellin and her dog happen to be on Douglas Beach one morning and found the camera and housing.  She said, "I used to be a diver so I recognized straight away that it was a good camera and it had a diver’s waterproof casing on it. They aren’t cheap so I thought someone was bound to be cursing after losing it." 

So began her search for the camera's owner.  Based on some information she pieced together from some top side pictures, she was able to do some good detective work.  One of the pictures was of a car Dr. Ross was considering buying.  Angela was able to track down the Owner of the garage that performed the car's annual inspection.  She contacted the owner of the garage who knew that Dr. Ross was planning a dive trip to the Isle of Man and contacted him.  

Dr. Ross said, "Getting that email to say someone had actually found it was remarkable". "Despite its excursion, the camera and its casing are unscathed."

"It’s an Ikelite housing guaranteed up to 60 meters", he said.

"At the moment it’s all soaking in fresh water to clean any salt out of the o-ring seals but I think I’ll be trying it out this weekend."

We should all be so lucky if the same fate were to befall our equipment.  But at least with quality gear surrounding your investment, just maybe, it might return to your door step. (It also never hurts to have it insured and at least have your last name and phone number on all your gear.)

Click here for more information about Ikelite housings and products

• Further Reading:

Guide to the most popular underwater housings

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