A yacht owned by Mark Zuckerberg didn't respond immediately to a call for help from a small skiff that ran out of fuel off the coast of Alaska, but a maritime law expert said the crew may not have been obligated to after the Coast Guard determined the boat wasn't in distress.
A spokesperson for the Meta CEO also said the crew didn't immediately hear the radio call for help and by the time it did, another nearby ship had already rendered assistance.
The August 3 incident gained attention in recent days after a passenger on the cruise ship posted on social media that the captain had said Zuckerberg’s yacht “refused” to respond.
The US Coast Guard said the 6.4-metre Hewescraft vessel first hailed it for assistance at approximately 9.32pm (local time), using a radio frequency all boats are expected to monitor. About 25 minutes later, the Coast Guard determined the vessel was not in distress and issued an assistance request. The skiff was able to make it safely to Farragut Bay after the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship towed it there and helped it refuel.
When another ship is in distress, everyone in the area is obligated to respond as long as doing so doesn't put their own ship at risk. But maritime law expert Ian Ralby said this situation appears different, and the crew of Zuckerberg's yacht wouldn't face that legal obligation.
“It’s the difference between calling AAA and 911. You need an ambulance on site, that’s a distress call. You need somebody to give you a jump or to tow your car, you call AAA,” said Ralby, who is president of Auxilium Worldwide. It is a big difference in terms of the emergency type, he said. "Both concerning, both needing assistance, but the legal obligations to respond are very different.”
Zuckerberg and his family were not on the 118-metre Launchpad yacht when this happened, according to his spokesperson.
“As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe," Zuckerberg's spokesman Brian Baker said.
The Alaska Beacon first reported on what happened after Michael Love, who said he was a passenger on the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship, posted on Bluesky on August 5.
“Our boat rescued a stranded vessel last night, and apparently we did that after the Coast Guard radioed Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht — which was closer — and they repeatedly refused to respond. (There was near-unanimous booing when the captain announced this),” he said.
The Coast Guard said in a statement that they determined within half an hour of when the skiff radioed in that the small ship wasn't in distress. A marine assistance request was broadcast on their behalf, and the Wilderness Legacy responded, reaching the 6.4-metre vessel about an hour later.
It's a little unusual that the Launchpad crew missed the call for help because it is common practice for ships to always be monitoring channel 16 on their radios and keep it as the default frequency. That's where this call for help was transmitted, but it is also where the Coast Guard would broadcast warnings about any hazards in the area, whether that's a brewing storm or anything else.
“The situation was resolved without any harm to life," said Ralby. "It does not seem that there was any immediate issue in terms of threat to life of mariners or concerns for the marine environment, which are the two main things that lead to that urgent distress call where all mariners, no matter who they are, are legally obligated to try and respond.”
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