LUBEC – The search for four Canadian boaters who were lost in the fog near the U.S.-Canadian border is over. The boaters, who spent Thursday night on the water, are all safe, according to U.S. Coast Guard officials.

The 22-foot motorboat Deal Maker, out of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, became lost in the fog around 3 p.m. Thursday. The vessel drifted all night before reaching land at 7:30 a.m. Friday at Campobello Island.

The four on board were all from St. Stephen. They were Ralph Moffet, the captain, 59; his wife, Eva Moffet, 56; son Trevor, 26; and his girlfriend, Debra Hughes, 23.

Overnight, the 100-foot Coast Guard cutter Jefferson Island, stationed in South Portland, a rescue boat from Coast Guard Station Eastport and the Maine Marine Patrol searched through the fog unsuccessfully. The Coast Guard prepared to search the area with a Falcon jet from Air Station Cape Cod and a Canadian Rescue helicopter when the fog lifted and visibility improved Friday morning.

The lost boaters did not have a VHF radio on board and had to rely on a cell phone with a weak signal for communications. A Coast Guard spokesman said cell phones are not suitable replacements for VHF radios. VHF radios remain the most effective and preferred method of voice communication for boaters in distress.

The uncertainty involved in this case, the effectiveness of the resulting search, and the jeopardy that four lives were placed in were a direct result of poor decisions regarding distress communications, said the spokesman.