Chris Perry Column: Look What I Found!

“I got a guy…”

If you live or work on Nantucket, you hear that expression all the time.

I got a plumber guy.

I got a landscape guy.

I got a fishing guy.

More often than not, it is Nantucket hyperbole because “that guy” can’t come for six months. But Melanie Wernick, who teaches palates at the Nantucket Hotel in the summer, has a guy and he responded the next day when former Nantucket lifeguard and Nantucket Cottage Hospital ER nurse Kelli Molloy came frantically calling in need of assistance. She had lost her ring at Ladies Beach. 

"That guy" is Travis Nichols (@DiggingACK). The West Brookfield, Mass. native and Worcester State graduate came to Nantucket in 2021 initially taking a job with John Luyrink at the Great Harbor Yacht Club’s tennis facility on Nobadeer Farm Road.

“I couldn’t believe Travis came through so quickly. Knowing where I lost my ring - the sentimental value as it was a college graduation gift from my dad - the chances were one in a million”, Molloy said.

Prior to calling Travis, the Molloys searched Ladies Beach - a common gathering place for the family and where the ring was lost. Wernick suggested they call Nichols after their search came up empty.

“We always go Ladies Beach - marker 13 D”, said Molloy’s father and former Nantucket High School Athletic Director Jack Molloy, who owns a house with his wife Kathy on Sesapana Road. “It was one of the best days of the summer, but the ring slipped off her finger about 15 feet from shore. Immediately, Kathy and I went out to where she was standing. For about 30 minutes, we tried to grab handfuls of sand between waves and feel with our feet. That did not work so I whipped up to Bartlett’s Farm and bought two goggles, hoping to see something. However, the more unsuccessful we were, the more upset Kelli was getting.”

Losing hope, Jack pulled a “MacGyver,” dropping a cheap, child’s ring they had in a beach bag, watching it fall to the ocean floor and hoping that would help pinpoint the ocean’s current.

“We thought it was good idea, but we came up empty”, he admitted.

Over the past couple of years, Travis has made a name for himself as more than just a dutiful employee at Bartlett's Farm, 167 Raw (where he shucked a personal best 1,500 oysters in one day), the Brotherhood, and for one of Nantucket’s best kept secrets, a non-profit called Inclusive Work Opportunities on Nantucket (IWON), which is funded via a grant through the town of Nantucket and the Cape Cod license plate fund that helps young adults with special needs.

“I pick up a small group at the high school in the morning during the summer. They are 18 to 20 years old, and we generally go to beaches and around the island to pick up trash. They earn money because it is legit employment”, said Nichols who takes his responsibilities seriously. “We do three- to four-hour shifts, but we try to make it a learning process. Recently, we took the group out to the landfill so they could see what happens to the litter they pick up”.

Despite his busy schedule, Travis is best known for finding lost treasures. Sharing a cup of coffee at the Handlebar Cafe with Travis and his girlfriend, who was visiting from Boston, the $64,000 question was: How does a young man from western Mass. get involved in metal detection and become one of “Nantucket’s guys”?

“It gets awfully boring on Nantucket during the winter. I thought it would be an interesting hobby, so I bought a metal detector. Within three months, I bought two more, and the next thing you know, primarily through word of mouth, people are calling me asking for help to find their rings, bracelets, necklaces, phones, etc.”, Nichols said.

Travis has taken his hobby to a new level. Recently, he travelled for eight months through Mexico, Aruba, England, Wales, France and the Netherlands before returning to Nantucket in May.

“I really got into it. In fact, I found some medieval coins dating back to 1100 A.D. In addition to finding personal property for people who oftentimes have lost hope, it really brings me great satisfaction to find something historical”, admitted Nantucket’s newest pied piper of detection.

Nichols said his most rewarding find on Nantucket so far was two very rare ‘kettle points’ which are pieces of metal used for trade by Nantucket’s original settlers with local Native Americans in the 1600s. The Native Americans would then turn the metal into arrowheads, and Nichols said he has been told that they are the only two found on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.

At this point, I am starting to think this guy could give Allen Reinhard, Bobby DeCosta and Carl Sjolund a run for their money.

As for Kelli Molloy’s ring, she contacted Travis late in the day. Since he was at work, Nichols promised to meet her at the beach the following morning around 8:30 a.m.

“I just couldn’t sleep that night, so I went out to Ladies around 7 a.m. and started to search for the ring”, added Nichols. “After about 30 minutes, I located a ring in waist-high water, and I texted Kelli a picture, thinking my job was done.”

Excitement quickly turned to disappointment when Kelli advised Travis that he found the “dummy ring” her father intentionally dropped into the ocean.

While Nichols was encouraged knowing he was in the right area, Kelli thought there was no way lighting would strike twice.

Twenty minutes later, Nichols texted a second picture of a different ring.

Bingo. Pay dirt!

“I was really focused. I knew my equipment could go up to 200 meters deep but I am afraid of sharks. Waist/shoulder height water is my limit. When I found the second ring in the same general area, I knew it was the one,” said a satisfied Nichols.

“I hate when people are unhappy, but this had a happy ending. I probably get three or four calls per day during the summer and conservatively spend about 12 to 15 hours a week ‘detecting’. It’s easy to find stuff in the sand but this was the first time I located something in the water," Nichols said proudly as he heads off to Nantucket’s Intermediate School this morning as a first-year teacher’s assistant.

Today, Jack and Kathy are back home in Wells, Maine, while Kelli - with ring in hand - is back in South Boston and working at Boston’s Children’s Hospital. As they say, all’s well that ends well, but knowing Jack for a long time and reminiscing about his time as A.D. on Nantucket, I asked him if he missed the local sports scene.

“Coming from a job at Brandeis University to Nantucket in 2002, it truly changed our lives," offered the former athletic director, who emphasized how loyal they are to Ladies Beach.

“I would have hated to think Ladies Beach got the best of us, but Travis really came through,” he added.

With two lost rings found, I kept prodding…

“But what about Nantucket High School sports - there has to be something you miss?"

Molloy paused for a moment then coyly responded, “Maybe one day, I will return in different capacity. But to be honest with you, the one thing that has stayed with me all these years…

“I still hate purple and white,” he said.

Spoken like a true Whaler.