ESCANABA — A search and rescue operation took place in Little Bay de Noc after a boat crashed into the Escanaba Municipal Dock during Saturday’s fireworks display. Luckily, a man who had fallen overboard from the vessel was able to reach shore after a very long swim.

Authorities learned the boat’s operator Jason Livingston, 47, had fallen out of the back of the boat shortly after departing from Gladstone. The boat had been on autopilot with a straight route for Escanaba with one person asleep below deck.

When the boat hit the dock at 10:27 p.m., a nearby Escanaba Public Safety officer jumped aboard to gain control of the vessel. Susan Cogswell, who was asleep below deck, was awakened. According to a Delta County Sheriff’s Department report, she was visibly upset and informed personnel on scene that she did not know where Livingston was. The back gate of the boat was open. Cogswell said she did not think Livingston was wearing a life jacket.

Without initially knowing what had happened to the missing man, authorities launched a multi-department search. Personnel from the Departments of Public Safety for both Escanaba and Gladstone, Delta County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Natural Resources, Delta County Dive Team, Delta County Marine Patrol, and U.S. Coast Guard searched from the water and the air for close to three hours.

When Livingston was later found, he reported that he had been trying to fix a fishing net that had been bouncing around the back of the boat. He lost his balance and fell overboard when the boat hit a wave and fell into the water.

Livingston managed to swim to shore on his own and came ashore near the Gladstone city limits, about a mile north of the Terrace Bay Hotel, according to Sheriff Oswald. At some point during the hours-long swim across the bay, he had removed his clothes as they were hindering his efforts to swim.

Eventually — at 1:07 a.m. — a motorist stopped to assist him and called police.

Livingston stated he had fallen in the water near Black Bottom, a fishing spot south of Gladstone. This type of incident — in the same location — is not unfamiliar.

“I’ve seen this before,” said Sheriff Oswald. “The last time the person almost drowned at the end. Same thing — taking off, fishing poles moving, went to get fishing poles and just kind of stumbled out of the back of the boat. This does happen. You wonder how many times it happens and somebody else is on the boat who can help.”

The fairly large boat sustained minimal damage and was moving relatively slowly when it collided with the dock. Oswald said the vessel had probably been on a faster course before Livingston fell, and that each wave the boat hit caused the throttle arm to nudge back to lower speeds.