An autopsy confirmed that the body of the man found in waters off Whidbey Island Saturday was the person who jumped from a ferry near Coupeville Thursday night.

“It is him,” said Island County Coroner Robert Bishop.

The body of William Hamilton, 79, of Poulsbo was found floating in the water northwest of Fort Ebey State Park about a mile from shore Saturday.

A sailboat operator spotted the body and notified authorities.

Marine rescue units from the Island County Sheriff and Central Whidbey Fire & Rescue responded to the report and the body was recovered at 12:51 p.m., Bishop said.

Bishop said Saturday that the man fit the description of a missing ferry passenger who was captured on a security camera jumping from the ferry Kennewick about eight minutes after departing Coupeville on the route’s final Thursday night passage.

A search of an abandoned vehicle on the boat once the vessel docked in Port Townsend uncovered the wallet and suicide note belonging to the man from Poulsbo who’d been living most recently in Jefferson County.

The United States Coast Guard immediately led an extensive 12-hour search for the man by water and air that covered a 300-mile radius. The search was suspended Friday afternoon.

Central Whidbey Fire was part of both the search and recovery and was the first to reach the body Saturday.

Volunteer firefighter Kolton Kellison and part-time firefighter/EMT Will Suarez drove the department’s backup inflatable boat from the Coupeville ferry landing to the site where Hamilton’s body was discovered, Capt. Jerry Helm said.

The Island County Sheriff’s rescue boat, which carried Bishop, arrived minutes later and recovered the body.

The autopsy was performed Sunday. The cause of death was saltwater drowning, Bishop said.