Burgoyne, who lost not only his boat but also countless irreplaceable photos and a video documenting the stormy seas that led to the vessel’s demise, was amazed by the memory card’s resilience. “It’s incredible that, after two years at the bottom of the ocean, this little memory card still worked,” he said. He looks forward to revisiting the emotional snapshots of his parents’ ashes being scattered at Lake of the Woods, along with the haunting final footage of the Bootlegger’s last journey.
This unexpected recovery underscores the surprising durability of modern electronic devices and serves as a powerful reminder that sometimes memories thought lost forever can be recovered in the most unexpected ways. The discovery is a testament to both human perseverance and the persistence of memory—even beneath the depths of the sea.