ROCKLAND – A city man was rescued at sea after he apparently was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes and passed out on his boat in Rockland Harbor.

Jeremy Maxwell, 74, of Rockland was rescued by Sgt. Jeffrey McLaughlin shortly after an Owls Head resident noticed a boat adrift in the harbor shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday and alerted police. Maxwell was found unconscious on the boat.

Deputy Police Chief Wallace Tower said McLaughlin rushed to the area in the department’s harbor patrol boat and caught up with the drifting 27-foot sailboat in waters beyond the breakwater.

As he moved in to secure the craft, McLaughlin noticed a pair of feet protruding from the boat’s bulkhead.

McLaughlin climbed aboard and pulled Maxwell from the cabin. He also alerted the U.S. Coast Guard and the Rockland Emergency Medical Service.

Tower said that once Maxwell was exposed to fresh air, he began to come around.

“It was an excellent response by Sergeant McLaughlin,” Tower said Friday. “Had he not responded in time, this man could have died.”

Tower said Maxwell apparently had leaned into the cabin to work on something when he was overcome by fumes from the boat’s engine.

Once he was assured that Maxwell was recovering, McLaughlin secured a tow line to the boat and headed toward shore. At some point he was met by the Coast Guard, and emergency medical technicians transferred Maxwell to their boat.

Once ashore, Maxwell was taken by the Rockland Fire Department ambulance to Penobscot Bay Medical Center in Rockport for tests and treatment, said Tower.