Hard hat lost in Massachusetts washes up on Portuguese island

June 21 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts man whose hard hat fell into the Atlantic Ocean in 2014 received word that his lost hat washed up 2,000 miles away in Portugal.

Conrad Roy Jr., of Fairhaven, said his hat fell into the water while he was working on a job site in New Bedford in 2014.

Roy said it came as a surprise when he learned from a Facebook post Sunday that his hat had washed up Portugal's Azores archipelago.

"I just happen to see this post and I'm like, 'Wow, it looks like my hard hat,' and I start reading it and I said, 'Oh my gosh, that is my hard hat,'" Roy told WCVB-TV.

Sandra Machado said she spotted the hat's unnatural color sticking out in the water.

"I saw something right in the waves. I went to pick it up and saw a helmet, and the stickers say it was from New Bedford," Machado said.

Roy said he believes the Father's Day discovery was a message from his son, Conrad Roy III, who died by suicide at age 18 on 2014. He said his son had been on the job site with him when he lost the hat.

"I'm happy today because it felt like he brought that to me," Roy said.

He said he is working on a plan to get his hat back to the United States. Roy said he is considering taking a trip to the Azores to retrieve it in person.