Quick action by an Edgartown launch operator saved a man who fell into the harbor in the early morning hours of the Fourth of July holiday.

About 2:15 a.m., captain Eli Bonnell was just finishing up his shift aboard the Old Port launch, which ferries people from shore to boats in the harbor. Mr. Bonnell said he heard a splash and ran to the finger piers near the Edgartown Yacht Club.

“I see this guy in the water, I thought he was swimming, at first. He was gasping for air,” Mr. Bonnell said. “I ran down the dock. He was underwater, I could see his hands.”

Mr. Bonnell said he was able to grab the man’s hands and get him to the dock, but was unable to lift him out of the water. With the help of others in the area, he was finally able to get the man safely ashore, just before police and ambulances arrived.

“He was bloody, he was all scraped up from trying to get out of the water,” Mr. Bonnell said.

According to Edgartown police, the man, whose name was not yet available, was taken to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

“There is little doubt that this could have ended much differently if not for (Mr. Bonnell’s) actions,” said Edgartown police in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon.

This is not the first time Mr. Bonnell, the well-known fillet master during the striped bass and bluefish derby, was in the right place at the right time and took action to save a life.

In October 2013, Mr. Bonnell encountered Barbara Morgan suffering a heart attack. He administered CPR until an ambulance arrived and was credited with saving her life. He was given a Lifesaving Hero Award by the American Red Cross.