A fishing crew targeting ling off the West Coast made an unusual catch last week – hauling up a smartphone from 400m deep, complete with a student ID, bank card and driver’s licence still tucked into a pocket on the back.
The phone belonged to Charlie Butterfield, a keen outdoorsman who lost his phone during a late-night tuna-chasing trip off the Greymouth bar with his father earlier this month.
“We were leaning over to grab dead hoki floating on the surface, probably dropped by a trawler, and his phone just slipped out of his top pocket,” said Charlie’s father Matt Butterfield.
“It was pitch black, around 3.30 in the morning, we figured it was gone for good.”
Charlie, currently working as a commercial pāua diver up on the North Island, had a reputation for losing phones — this one was number six, Matt said.
Ross Coppell, the skipper of the vessel Progress, told 1News the phone was brought to him by crew members who had found it in the net.
“Some guy’s driver’s license, bank card, and student card was all tucked into a pocket on the back of the phone. It shocked me it stayed in there,” he said.
Copp put out a call on the VHF radio to nearby boats, hoping to track down the owner.
After a few false leads, his boss Tony recognised the name and got in touch with Charlie via Facebook.
Matt said the family came across the discovery through a Facebook post and were shocked.
“It’s a great yarn. It just shows that old-school West Coast hospitality is alive and well. We really appreciate the effort those guys made.”
While the phone was beyond repair, Charlie might still be able to use the recovered cards.
“He’d already replaced the bank card, but maybe not the licence.”
The Butterfields hoped to meet the crew in person soon.
“It’s a wicked spot out there in the middle of nowhere, trawlers crawling past in the dark,” Matt said.
“We’re looking forward to shaking their hands and sharing a beer.”
Coppell, who had pulled up all sorts of things in his years at sea, said this ranked among the strangest.
“It’s probably the strangest thing I’ve pulled up from 400 metres. How did it stay in the net is what I’d like to know? We’ve got mesh it could fall through, that’s what amazes me.”
