A 21-year-old man unable to swim, according to a friend, apparently drowned when his kayak overturned early Tuesday at Wassamki Springs campground in Scarborough.

Mark Latti, a spokesman for the Maine Warden Service, identified the victim as Michael Gould, whose last known address was in the Lewiston area. David Corbeau, marine resource officer with the Scarborough Police Department, retrieved Gould’s body about 7 a.m., according to a Scarborough dispatcher.

Sgt. Tim Spahr of the Maine Warden Service said the incident was reported at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. “It appears to be a drowning,” Spahr said.

David Burnett, a friend who had been camping with the victim, attempted to rescue Gould after hearing his cries for help. “This is a horrible thing. If I could take his place, I would,” said Burnett, wrapped later in a green blanket.

From shore, Burnett said he had heard Gould yell for help after his kayak capsized. “I threw my glasses off and jumped in the water,” Burnett said. “I started swimming. I lost energy and went back to the shore.”

Burnett said Gould could not swim. “I told him to wear his life preserver,” said Burnett, who grew up in Westbrook.

Gould was not wearing a lifejacket. “There is a lifejacket on the kayak,” Spahr said.

Spahr said the two had taken out a paddleboat early Tuesday to a kayak on the opposite shore. Burnett returned in the paddleboat. Spahr said Burnett observed from the opposite shore that the victim had flipped.

Latti said Gould’s cry for help lasted only about a minute.

Spahr said the victim was a couple of hundred feet offshore. The water was thought to be about 20 feet deep where Gould’s body was found.

Gould and Burnett had previously been roommates at a Lewiston apartment. With two other friends, they had been camping out at Wassamki Springs for four days. “He was a great guy,” Burnett said. “I was trying to be a big brother to him. There’s always the feeling you could have done more.”

The state’s medical examiner will determine the official cause of death. Warden Jason Luce said the medical examiner would do a toxicology test, which is a standard procedure.

Police officers and rescue workers from Gorham and Scarborough along with two Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department deputies went to the scene. Gorham Police Chief Ron Shepard said the pond is located in both Scarborough and Gorham. But Shepard said the victim’s body was located in Scarborough.

Gorham Deputy Fire Chief Ken Fickett said he and Scarborough Deputy Fire Chief Glen Deering manned a paddleboat in the search for Gould. Fickett said a scuba diver retrieved the body and a boat from the Scarborough Fire Department took the body ashore.

The Maine Warden Service is investigating the incident. “I don’t think he was that familiar with operating a kayak,” Luce said about the victim.

Kayak rolls, man diesKayak rolls, man dies