Pixiq

Stories of survival at sea always take on mythic quality. The best example of this is, of course, Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick; or The Whale." However old Queequeg’s coffin doesn’t hold a candle to this hearty little Canon EOS 1000D that was lost in the Pacific Ocean for well over a year.

Markus Thompson has a diving job in Deep Bay, British Columbia and that's where, not so long ago, he found the camera on the shore near a wharf. After cleaning it up a bit, Markus discovered that it's SanDisk Extreme III memory card was still functioning. Loading it into his computer he discovered the Canon's story.

(It should be noted that regardless of brand, memory cards are extremely rugged and can survive incredible environmental stresses.)

The Canon’s SD card contained about 50 images along with some EXIF data.The photos appeared to show what Markus described as a firefighter with his wife and child on a vacation. The EXIF data indicated that these photos were shot back in August of 2010. 

The little Canon must have floated in the Pacific for over a year before washing ashore. I’ve sailed those waters and as Captain James Cook so wryly observed, the Pacific Ocean is anything but pacific. The camera’s very survival through storms and frigid waters speaks volumes about the reliability and solid construction of Canon gear. However I do wonder if Canon engineers actually built "floatability" into their EOS camera designs. 

Thompson posted his story on his Google+ site in hopes that the great Google brain—the hive—could help him find the camera’s rightful owner. Not too surprisingly, the Google+ group did identify the owner of the camera as is a firefighter in Delta, British Columbia. I am sure that Markus is looking forward to reuniting the firefighter and his brave little Canon. 

The story of this courageous EOS reminded me of my days sailing around Vancouver Island’s Inside Passage and some of my favorite lines from “Moby-Dick; or The Whale” 

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

Bravo Canon!