Eric Duguay thought his hard hat was long gone after it fell into the St. Lawrence River in Sept-Îles. So he was shocked to find out it was found 5,000 kilometres away, on a beach in a small town in England.

Duguay was working on the construction of a quay for the Pomerleau construction company and said it was a particularly windy day when his hard hat flew off his head and landed in the river.

He forgot all about the hat until somebody from the English town of Seaton contacted his employer 18 months later.

"A man got in touch with Pomerleau to say he had found my hat," Duguay said.

"But the point of his call was to make sure there wasn't a Pomerleau employee who had fallen in the water or who was missing."

Duguay said the company checked that he was in fact working on their site in Sept-Îles and not missing.

The hard hat had two key identifying factors: Eric Duguay's name on a sticker and the Pomerleau company logo. (Pomerleau/Facebook)

Seaton resident Lesley McGowan told CBC that her husband, Mike Lock, found the hat on Seaton beach.

"As biologists we both found it very exciting," she wrote in an email. "There were other largish bits of debris with the helmet with large goose barnacles clinging to them."

Identifying owner of hat

Duguay said it was sheer luck that the man in Seaton was able to identify the hard hat's owner.

"My hat was completely covered in stickers," Duguay said.

"The only sticker that stayed on was the one with my name."

That, along with Pomerleau's company logo stamped on the hat, allowed the English man to get in touch.

As for whether he'll be reunited with his hat, Duguay said he wasn't sure. He said he's simply focused on keeping his job and providing food for his family.