Patrick Cooke
Mystery diver retrieves groom's ring
Norman and Susan Smith at their wedding ceremony in Gozo.
A mystery local diver came to the rescue of two distraught Scottish newlyweds when the groom lost his wedding ring while swimming off the rocks at Marsalforn.
Glaswegians Norman Smith, 58, and his wife Susan, 52, had only been married for a day when their honeymoon was derailed by the unfortunate incident in late June.
In their desperation, they dashed to the hotel where Mr Smith's daughter was staying in Xaghra to retrieve her snorkelling kit, but a 30-minute search on their return proved fruitless.
Dejected, they returned to their car and were about to leave when a car pulled up alongside and the driver started gesturing at them.
"At first I thought we were in his parking space and he wanted us to move," said Mrs Smith.
"Then I looked closer and I realised Norman's ring was on his finger - I couldn't believe it."
It transpired that a nearby teenage snorkeller had fetched her father, an experienced diver, to help find the ring when the couple left for Xaghra. Together with his son, the diver scoured the area underwater and found the ring lodged behind the ladders which led to the sea.
Not happy with merely finding the ring, the diver and his son then drove around for half an hour trying to find the newlyweds based on the description his daughter had given.
Luckily, they crossed paths just as the couple were about to leave, and Mr and Mrs Smith could not thank him enough.
"We totally thank him from the bottom of our hearts, I gave him a big hug at the time and he probably thought I was a mad woman," Mrs Smith laughed.
"It is a testament to the kindness of the people in Malta and Gozo. It is easy to commiserate with people when things go wrong but you just don't expect people to go out of their way like this man did."
The couple, who were married at Ta' Frenc in front of seven close family members, are regular visitors to Gozo and will definitely return in future.
However, they may have problems tracing the diver as he only gave his name as 'Joe' and he was "in his late 40s"; surely not the only person fitting that description in the area.
But regardless of whether they meet again, Mr Smith has taken an inspirational lesson from the experience: "Everyone out there should never give up hope, especially when you have the amazing help of the kind people of Gozo."
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11 Comments
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Joe Apap
Aug 2nd 2009, 20:25
From down under i say good on you mate you just put Gozo on the map again, we are not all that bad after all, and when we have good honest people like your good self who needs foreigners, during my travels in met more dishonest people from ie., Belgium, England,France and not forgetting the worst of them all Sicily and italy then Malta put together.
Joe Apap Victoria
Vincent Galea
Aug 2nd 2009, 15:40
We all wish that the world was a better place and that people would get along better. One thing we can do is to set an example of showing real concern for others......after all it feels good to do a good thing.
James A. Tyrrell
Aug 2nd 2009, 14:46
@vincent a galea. Just seeing the joy that returning the ring brought to this couple would have been reward enough for me as I'm sure it was for Joe. Well done Joe, a true Gozitan gentleman.
v.pulis
Aug 2nd 2009, 14:41
Joe has done more for the tourist industry than all the posters in the London undeground!
Thank you Joe.
Michelle Bundy
Aug 2nd 2009, 14:08
So there you go Ladies and Gents. Most Maltese and Gozitans are Honest people when it comes to that, thats more then i can say for alot of dishonest English i met in England and Malta and to say the least * i happened to be British at that. Michelle Bundy
emanuel bajada
Aug 2nd 2009, 12:48
One evening late September 10 years ago a British diver guest at our holiday premises in Xlendi came to me holding a wedding ring with the names of spouses and their wedding date, only a week old. He had found it in the sand while diving in Comino. How to find the owner? It was the time when local radios were at their peak. I phoned the one which I thought would be the most likely to be heard by a tourist or at least the staff of the hotel where these poor honeymooners are lodging. In half an hour they were phoning me at home after one of the staff who knew about thier ordeal heard the news on the radio and the next morning these 2 young belgian couple came over from Malta and picked up their most precious ring.......... By the way no reward was paid, more we had a quickly organised BBQ for the whole group of the divers and this couple were their special guests.
joe portelli
Aug 2nd 2009, 12:46
The action of this diver ' joe' is typical of the maltese when it comes to family.
In Malta we are not perfect, but our values are very honourable, especially when it comes to family and people in love. A wedding ring represents these and for Maltese this surely is a most valuable and sentimental of all objects.
Yes it woulld be a great advert for Maltese culture, despite the muddle of politics we share wonderful values that makes us maltese - well done Joe Diver.
C.Sammut
Aug 2nd 2009, 12:26
This story should be turned into a tv advert for the Maltese islands.
Tony Gatt
Aug 2nd 2009, 12:21
@Vincwnt Galea
Not everyone looks for money or reward when they do a good deed.
A dying breed indeed.
vincent a galea
Aug 2nd 2009, 12:12
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL NEWS IF YOU ALSO REPORTED WHAT KIND OF REWARD THIS LOVELY SCOTTISH COUPLE GAVE TO THE GENTLEMAN DIVER....
philip pace
Aug 2nd 2009, 11:53
Great News.
People like the diver are a dying breed as we have been taken over by unscrupulous people
whose sole role in life is to lie, cheat, flout the laws, make an awesome amount of profit and provide misery so that they hang on to their seat of power at our expence.
This diver should be commended!