Diver Develops Film From Camera Found At Bottom Of Sea, Freezes Up When He Sees Face

Note: This story is being republished after first making headlines in May 2014.

The ocean often guards its secrets closely—but sometimes, it gives one back.

In a stunning twist of fate and resilience, a digital camera that was lost in a shipwreck off Vancouver Island has surfaced—two years later—with its memory card intact and the precious photographs inside completely unharmed.

The camera belonged to Vancouver artist Paul Burgoyne, whose 2012 sailing trip ended in disaster. While en route to his summer home in Tahsis, British Columbia, Burgoyne’s vessel—the Bootlegger—was wrecked along the rugged coastline. Among the many losses was his camera, along with deeply personal photos stored on its memory card.

“I was shocked,” Burgoyne said. “To get either the camera or the images back—it’s amazing.”

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Two years later, in May 2014, university students from Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre were diving near Aguilar Point when they spotted the unexpected: a camera resting on the seafloor, 12 meters underwater. The discovery was made by students Tella Osler and Beau Doherty, along with BMSC Diving and Safety Officer Siobhan Gray.

The camera had become part of the underwater ecosystem, providing temporary shelter to small marine creatures. Professor Isabelle M. Côté, a marine ecologist from Simon Fraser University, noted how nature had reclaimed the device—until now.

Despite the camera’s weathered exterior, something remarkable happened when they checked its memory card—a Lexar Platinum II, 8 GB. Against all odds, it still worked.

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Among the photos retrieved was a family portrait, which Côté shared online in hopes of tracking down the owner. That post caught the eye of someone who recognized the man in the image: a member of the Bamfield Coast Guard who had been involved in Burgoyne’s original rescue.

And just like that, the path back to the camera’s rightful owner was clear.

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For Burgoyne, the return of the memory card reopened a time capsule of memories: the quiet hours on the boat before the crash, moments with family, and the emotional scattering of his parents’ ashes at Lake of the Woods in Ontario. Even a video of the churning waves before the shipwreck was found among the recovered files.

The recovery was a bittersweet reminder of that journey—peaceful, then chaotic—but also of resilience and second chances.

“I have a new appreciation for electronics,” Burgoyne joked. “We tend to throw them away every couple of years, but that little memory card—it’s something else.”

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This unusual story isn’t just about technology surviving the sea. It’s about the kindness of strangers, the unpredictability of nature, and the strange beauty of getting something back you thought was gone forever.

From the ocean floor to the hands of its rightful owner—these memories made their way home.