A team of divers retrieved a man’s wedding ring from Weymouth Harbour despite anticipating a “needle in a haystack” search.

Chris Cronin, 51, lost his treasured wedding ring while tying up his boat on the Westwey Road pontoons.

To start with, he feared he had lost his ring, but a team of divers later helped him recover it.

He said: “As I was putting on the ropes to tie up my little boat I was running the ropes through my hand and my ring slipped of my finger into the end of the mooring.

“I just thought it was lost forever.”

Later that same day, however, while parking his car he saw a man who was due to go diving.

He asked for more details and managed to later get in contact with Andy Symms of the Weymouth & Portland British Sub-Aqua Club (WPSAC) and ask if the club could help him find it.

After the club agreed to help, they contacted the Harbour Master to acquire a dive permit and present their dive plan.

Andy Symms said that he thought the search for the ring would be like a “needle in a haystack”, but he agreed to help, nonetheless.

On Bank Holiday Monday, they set out into the harbour in their club dive boat, complete with all the necessary approvals from the harbour management team.

They descended into the water, and to much surprise they found the ring very quickly, as it was sat partly buried in silt at the bottom of the harbour.

Mr Cronin, from Bristol, said: “Within a minute Andy surfaced with the ring.

“When I saw the ring was like being on top of the world, I just knew that the ring wasn’t meant to be lost and is now back safely on my finger.

“It is nice to know that people will take time out especially on a bank holiday and help others out.”

Mr Symms said: "He was a very happy man when we emerged with the ring."

Weymouth & Portland British Sub-Aqua Club offers training and sessions for diving and scuba activities.

They also offer facilities for people already qualified as divers.

More information about the club can be found at www.wapsac.co.uk