CNN
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A day before Morgan Perigo’s 83rd birthday last month, an unexpected package arrived at her door. It was the 1965 McMaster University graduation ring that he lost in 1977.

The package came from Alex Davis, a professional free diver and underwater fisherman who runs a tourism business in Barbados.

During a slow week for the tourism industry, Davis checked webcams showing a location he was interested in after it was hit by Hurricane Beryl earlier in the year.

“So in the areas where it was like a nice sandy beach, all of a sudden you can see all these exposed rocks… With that kind of mind, I was like, right, there’s- Are there any areas now where I want to go where they look like a lot of sand has been removed.

Diving with a metal detector, Davis first found the usual rusty nails, bottle caps and coins. Then he noticed something interesting about the coins.

“They were from the ’70s and ’80s and I started thinking wow, I’m in an area where we clearly have a lot of old stuff,” he said.

Then his metal detector started beeping in a different tone. Knowing the tone meant gold, he began digging.

After sifting through layers of sand, dead coral and rock, Davis unearthed a ring with a dark red stone in the middle. Still underwater, he noticed that the ring was not corroded and bore a jeweler’s mark, indicating that it was pure gold.

When Davis returned to land, he enlarged the engraving, revealing the words “McMaster University 1965” and the initials “FMP.”

“Once I saw that, I was like, ‘Okay, there’s definitely enough information here to try to convey that to the person.’ We have the school, we have the year of graduation, we have three initials.’

Davis immediately searched the McMaster University website and sent a message to the university’s general alumni alias, said Karen McQuigge, the school’s director of alumni engagement.

The email described how Davis discovered the ring and personal information on the engraving that could help the university identify its owner.

Requests from people asking to reconnect with old friends are the norm, McQuigge said, but this one was unusual. She asked the university’s meetings coordinator for help locating a person with the initials FMP.

The search narrowed down the initials to one Frederick Morgan Perigo, who goes by the name Morgan, and the school immediately informed him.

“Luckily, Morgan is a very good graduate and has retained his information at university after all these years. So that was the other concern we had, 1965 is quite a while ago. Would the person still be alive? she said.

Perigo was stunned to learn the ring had been found, she said.

Perigo explained to McQuigge how he lost the ring in 1977 during a trip with his family to Barbados. His son was knocked over by a wave and as he grabbed his son’s hand to pull him out, the ring slipped off his finger and fell into the sea.

Alumni staff forwarded Perigo’s contact information to Davis.

Davis reached out to Perigo – who thanked him profusely and explained how he lost the ring and shared another incredible detail.

Perigo said his birthday was coming up, Davis said. “So it was like, oh my God, this story just can’t get any better. Not only did we find it after 47 years at the bottom of the sea? But also, I found it, you know, a week before his birthday.

Davis packaged the ring and took it to FedEx for expedited international shipping to get there before Perigo’s birthday.

“This ring has been underwater for 47 years, so I’m pretty sure he walked away from it and thought it was gone forever,” Davis said.

CNN was unable to reach Perigo for comment.

The experience was satisfying for Davis and if he found another ring with identifying information, he would love to do it again, he said.

“In 1965 he received the ring and he was still wearing it in 1977, so I think that tells you it meant a lot to him at the time,” McQuigge said.