Scubaism

Cory Devereau took just 14 minutes of diving in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, to find a wedding ring dropped in the murky water the day before. “Had he not found that ring, I’m sure I would have killed my husband,” said Lucinda Lorkowski, married for just six months.

Devereau, 55, has built something of a cottage industry out of retrieving precious items from the lake bottom. Just two months ago he pulled up another ring from nearly the same spot. In decades of diving along the East Coast, Devereau has found rings worth more than $13,000. All he uses other than diving equipment is a metal detector.

Devereau made $100 for the short drive from his Rock Hill home and the 14 minutes spent retrieving Marty Lorkowski’s ring.