A multi-agency search became a recovery operation Thursday for a 22-year-old Port Deposit man knocked out of a canoe into the Susquehanna River by a gust of wind Tuesday night.
Rescuers spent much of Tuesday night and into Wednesday afternoon searching but as of Thursday morning, they had not found Jacob Nicholas Nolan.
Nolan and Matthew Flowers Trainor, 22, also of Port Deposit, were in a 15.5-foot canoe near Lee's Landing off Port Deposit when a strong wind flipped the craft.
"About a half hour after dark, a strong wind flipped the canoe," Candy Thomson, a spokesperson for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, said.
The Natural Resources Police have command over a search effort that has involved assistance from Cecil and Harford County fire and rescue agencies, including the Water Witch Volunteer Fire Company of Port Deposit, the Susquehanna Hose Company of Havre de Grace, the Darlington Volunteer Fire Company, the Harford County Technical Rescue Team and Maryland State Police aviation, according to Thompson and the Harford County Volunteer Fire & EMS Association.
Natural Resources Police continued their search Thursday morning by boat, although the agencies which had provided assistance have departed, Thomson said.
She said police officials also hope to have the Maryland State Police helicopter return to search from the air Thursday.
Thomson said the search operation is currently a recovery, rather than a rescue operation, meaning police do not anticipate that Nolan has survived.
"We're obviously still looking, but we're not treating this as a rescue any more," she said.
She said Trainor put his canoe in the water near the mouth of Octoraro Creek below the Conowingo Dam on the Cecil County side of the river around 3 p.m. Tuesday. He picked up Nolan at Smith's Falls, which is near Port Deposit, about 30 minutes before dark.
Trainor and Nolan were fishing near Lee's Landing off Port Deposit when the wind hit the craft, Thomson said. A small craft advisory, regarding possible treacherous winds and waves, had been issued by the National Weather Service for Tuesday night, according to Thomson.
She said both men grabbed floating items from the canoe. Trainor was holding a cooler, and his cell phone was in a plastic bag attached to the cooler. He used the phone to call his wife, who then called rescuers, Thomson said.
The Natural Resources Police were alerted around 10 p.m. Tuesday.
"Trainor said he was able to talk to Nolan for some time, but then he lost sight of him," Thomson said.
She said searchers also looked along the shoreline in case Nolan came ashore and had been injured.
Divers with the Natural Resources Police used side-scanning sonar to search for Nolan, according to the department's Twitter feed.
Anyone with information is asked to call the DNR Police communications center, 410-260-8888.