As darkness fell over Narragansett Bay, the Coast Guard called off the search Tuesday for Chester Kidd, the 47-year-old quahogger who apparently drowned Monday.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr. Kidd,” said Scott Backholm, the Coast Guard’s search and rescue controller for sector Southeastern New England. “As a life-saving service, it’s never easy to end a search with someone still missing at sea.”

A crew from the Kingston Fire Department located Kidd’s 18-foot boat in about 20 feet of water about one mile southwest of Patience Island Tuesday afternoon. The state Department of Environmental Management plans to work with state divers to raise the vessel.

Kidd was fishing for quahogs between Rocky Point and Quonset Point when he called a friend from his cell phone, saying his boat was going down and he needed help.

A 41-foot boat crew from Coast Guard Station Castle Hill, a Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod and several state and local agencies searched for Kidd for more than 26 hours in an area covering 284 square miles without finding him.

With reports from Kate Bramson

tmooney@projo.com