Holiday camera found on Cornwall seabed returned to owner
Stock photo, Falmouth, Cornwall: Rex
A camera containing more than 800 family photographs found on the seabed off Cornwall has finally been returned to its owner.
The camera was among 30kg of rubbish collected by divers during an underwater beach clean off Falmouth.
Rachel McGahan recognised the photographs when the story was shown on BBC Spotlight.
Her husband Paul McGahan said the camera held all their photographs from a recent trip to the Harry Potter theme park in Florida.
Paul said the camera went missing on a day's sailing trip on a friend's yacht in July, when one of his four children, Maddie, dropped it.
He told the BBC: "She wanted to take some pictures from the front of the yacht looking back, but the boat rocked at just the wrong time and the camera fell from her hand and bounced off the deck into the water.
"I actually saw it float past and thought 'it's gone forever'.
"Maddie was properly distraught and although I told her it was just an accident, she was in tears."
He added: "The camera can be replaced, but our cherished memories can't, so Rachel and I are convinced someone's been watching over us."
The diver who found the camera, Mark Milburn from the Atlantic Scuba diving centre in Falmouth, said he was amazed to find the images undamaged when the camera card dried out.
"I'm just so glad the family have their memories back. It's the right ending - a happy ending," he said.
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