An Alexandria, Va., man is safe after he became stranded in the middle of Lake Superior while trying to ride a Jet Ski from Grand Portage to Isle Royale.

After several hours of coordination, the 42-year-old man was rescued by the Canadian lake freighter Michipicoten, bound for Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

The man became lost with “only a fume of gas left” after hitting a bank of fog on the lake during the evening of July 7, according to call data provided by the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

Service was scant, but the man was able to use a cellphone to call his friend in Florida, who in turn called the Sheriff’s Office in Grand Marais. The call came in about 8:20 p.m.

The man’s friend told the Sheriff’s Office he lent the man his Kawasaki Jet Ski and that the man had intended to ride from the Grand Portage Marina to Isle Royale.

The Sheriff’s Office contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, which asked all lake traffic to be on the lookout for the man, said Master Chief Alan Haraf with Coast Guard public affairs. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard sent a helicopter from Traverse City, Mich., Haraf said.

The Coast Guard also contacted the Michigan State Police, given the proximity to the Keweenaw Peninsula and because Isle Royale itself is part of Michigan.

The Sheriff’s Office initially contacted Verizon Wireless to try and track the man’s cellphone signal, but the information was too old to be useful, and Verizon believed the phone had been turned off, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

By 9:15 p.m., however, the Sheriff’s Office received word that the man and his friend were texting and attempting to determine the man’s GPS coordinates.

At 10:01 p.m., the Cook County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the man himself, who said he could hear a ship’s fog horn and that he was sounding his own horn but that the two weren’t connecting.

The dispatcher advised the man to call 911 and stay on the phone as long as possible so that his exact location could be determined.

A few minutes later, the man was able to email an image of his compass to the Sheriff’s Office, and by 10:20 the Sheriff’s Office had relayed his coordinates to the Coast Guard.

The coordinates were near the Michipicoten’s planned route, and the vessel turned to intercept the lost rider. The Sheriff’s Office then told the man that a ship about 15 miles away was en route, as well as a Coast Guard vessel and helicopter.

The Michipicoten picked up the man about 22 miles south-southwest of Isle Royale, or about 36 miles southeast of Grand Portage and 43 miles north of Ontonagon, Mich. The Sheriff’s Office received word he was safe at 11:43 p.m.

By the time the Coast Guard helicopter arrived at the scene, the rescue already was underway, Haraf said, so the helicopter assisted by providing a spotlight. Once the man and his watercraft were safely aboard the freighter, the Coast Guard stood down, Haraf said.

The weather was fair on the night of the rescue, but “moderately chilly,” Michipicoten Capt. Jonathan Barnes said in a news release from the vessel’s owner, Rand Logistics Inc. The man was found in good health, Barnes said.

The Michipicoten also retrieved the man’s watercraft, Barnes said, to avoid leaving an unmanned vessel in the water.

Barnes and the Coast Guard decided the best course of action was to take the man aboard the Michipicoten to Sault Ste. Marie, where the man could disembark.

According to BoatNerd.com, which tracks Great Lakes traffic, the vessel arrived there Sunday morning.

Haraf said the man was lucky to have gotten a cell signal so far out into the lake, and he recommended that anyone out on the lake have a marine radio or satellite phone for emergencies.