In an incredible story of resilience and fate, a camera lost in a 2012 shipwreck off Vancouver Island was recently found and is set to be returned to its owner, carrying precious, intact photos.
Vancouver artist Paul Burgoyne lost the camera when his boat, the Bootlegger, sank during a 500-kilometer trip to his summer home.
Two years later, university students from Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre discovered the camera 12 meters underwater during research dives near Aguilar Point.
The camera, covered in marine life, still held an 8 GB memory card with family photos, including a portrait that helped identify Burgoyne through a Bamfield coast guard member who had rescued him.
Burgoyne expressed awe at the camera’s durability and was flooded with memories of the shipwreck, recalling the calm before the disaster and the final photos taken just before the sinking. The recovered images include a family gathering and footage of the rough seas. This remarkable find highlights both technological endurance and a touching reunion with lost memories from the ocean’s depths.
