LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- A glimpse of something shiny on the ocean floor nine years ago led a Welsh diver to uncover a piece of local history that had been forgotten for more than a century . The silver pocket watch was found off the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales . Diver Rich Hughes was exploring a shallow shipwreck off the Pembrokeshire coast in April 2000 when he noticed the object embedded in sediment . He thought at first that he had found a coin , but he found it was actually an intact silver pocket watch , still bearing the inscription of its owner . Hughes said he was determined to trace the history of the watch , believing such a prized object deserved to belong to family members or a local museum . But that led Hughes on a nine-year search with lots of dead ends and few leads . Now , months after enlisting the help of a local researcher , Hughes has finally tracked down a family member and will be presenting the watch to him next week . `` I 'm very happy and satisfied that we found out who he was , '' Hughes told CNN by phone Wednesday . `` It sort of brings the story to a close . It 's quite rewarding that it has n't just sat in the back of somebody 's garage . '' The watch inscription reads `` Richard Prichard , Abersoch , North Wales , 1866 . '' That was the only information Hughes had to go on for most of the past nine years ; even the name of Prichard 's ship was a mystery at the time . Over the years , Hughes searched records in person and online , contacting everyone from county records offices to Lloyd 's of London . Nothing turned up any information about Richard Prichard . `` It becomes a bit of a bug , really , '' Hughes said . `` It 's hard to describe . If you find something like that -- it 's a very personal item , and one of my biggest bugbears is if somebody pulls something off a shipwreck and it just sits in the back of their garage . `` It 's just a lost opportunity and it 's tragic when that happens , that history is just put in a corner , '' Hughes said . `` You 're obligated to find something out about it . It 's your duty to do it . '' Earlier this year , out of frustration , Hughes said he turned his attention again to the place name inscribed on the pocket watch , Abersoch , a coastal town in north Wales . `` I just kept doing searches on Google to find out whether any historical societies at all had any information on it , '' he said . That led Hughes to a couple that runs the Web site for a nearby village , Rhiw , and they put Hughes in touch with researcher and historian David Roberts . Roberts searched the graveyards of local churches and found two references to Richard Prichard . He also found a reference to Prichard on the Welsh Mariners ' Web site , showing that Prichard was captain of an iron-clad barque called the Barbara . The pocket watch was probably a gift to Prichard when he was promoted to mate in 1866 , from his fellow sailors or his parents . Prichard became captain of the ship and died in 1881 while the Barbara was en route to Rangoon , which is modern-day Yangon , in Myanmar . He was buried at sea . The watch was lost on the Barbara 's return trip to Wales with a cargo of rice later that year . Roberts believes the man who took over from Prichard , Captain Jones , was probably bringing the watch home in order to present it to Prichard 's widow . Jones probably intended to sail through St. George 's Channel , between Ireland and Wales , on his way to Liverpool , Hughes said . But on a dark November night , in driving rain and gale-force winds , Jones took a wrong turn and found himself stuck in the Bristol Channel , along Wales ' south coast . `` These ships could n't turn around -- they could only go 90 degrees to the winds , '' Hughes said . `` He would n't have known where he was . '' Hughes said the captain would probably have been filled with fear to see the cliffs of the Pembrokeshire coastline in front of him , where waves that night were probably at heights of 30 to 40 feet . With no way to turn around , the Barbara crashed into the cliffs and sank . Everyone on board the ship was saved , with the exception of Captain Jones , who went down along with Prichard 's pocket watch . While that solved the mystery of the unidentified shipwreck , tracing Prichard 's descendants proved a tougher task . Though Prichard had a son , he died with no heirs , and Roberts found no descendants from Prichard 's three sisters . Prichard 's only surviving relative is Owen Cowell , a retired dentist living in Pwllheli , North Wales -- incidentally , not far from Abersoch . Cowell 's grandmother was Prichard 's cousin . Hughes now plans to present the pocket watch next week to Cowell , who in turn plans to present it to the Abersoch village hall for display in an annual exhibition . This year 's display will open a week from Saturday , he said .
Diver finds watch on sea floor off Welsh coast , spends years tracing its history . Score: 7 Prichard died at sea in 1881 ; watch was probably being returned to his widow . Watch was lost when Barbara was shipwrecked in driving rain , gale-force winds .