FRANKFORT – A fiddlehead foraging expedition ended in tragedy Sunday night when a Searsport man drowned while trying to retrieve a pack basket filled with the ferns that fell from his canoe.

Michael Merrithew, 19, of Searsport was picking fiddleheads with three friends on the Marsh Stream when he dove into the swirling waters and was unable to make it back to shore, authorities said.

The incident occurred about 7 p.m. Sunday.

Merrithew was gathering fiddleheads with Christopher Nielsen, 23, and Jessica Nielson, 20, both of Searsport, and Casey Cummings, age and address unknown, when the canoe upset as the two men were walking it through rapids above the bridge where Adams Road joins with Town Hill Road near Wilson’s Market.

Waldo County Deputy Sheriff Merl Reed said Merrithew hollered that he was having trouble seconds after jumping into the stream.

The two women were on shore at the time and one ran to the store to call for help. Divers from the Waldo County dive team and the Bangor Fire Department answered the call for help.

They spent nearly two hours searching the murky water before they found Merrithew’s submerged body. Eventually, searchers called for lights.

The body was taken to shore and placed in an ambulance.

Firefighters and rescue personnel from Frankfort, Winterport and Monroe assisted at the scene.

The stream serves as the border between Frankfort and Monroe at the point where the accident occurred.

David Suitor, a nearby resident, said he used to swim in the section where Merrithew was swept under. He said there is a pronounced undertow in the large pool below the rapids.