Posted on 08/11/2026 6:32:28 PM PDT by george76
A small cruise ship operating in Southeast Alaska made an unexpected detour on Monday night to help a 21-foot skiff that ran out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau.
Michael Love, a software developer from New York City, was a passenger aboard the cruise ship and described the event on social media.
What got his attention the most wasn’t the rescue itself — it was when the captain announced that the yacht of billionaire Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg was closer and hadn’t answered the radio call for help.
“There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this,” he said in a post on the social media network Bluesky.
Vessel tracking services in the area back up that account — they show the $300 million, 387-foot yacht Launchpad slowing to a halt outside Farragut Bay as the UnCruise Adventures ship Wilderness Legacy steams around and past the Launchpad, stops at the apparent site of the skiff, then tows it into sheltered Farragut Bay.
Through a Bluesky message, Love said it was nice to be on a boat that was engaging with its surroundings in a positive way. Frankly, if I was Mark Zuckerberg I would be absolutely ecstatic at a chance to do something helpful for someone in need and maybe get some good PR out of it,” he said.
Social media accounts responding to Love’s account accused the yacht’s crew of violating international agreements that mandate aid from the nearest ship to one in distress.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Marine Exchange of Alaska, which monitors ship traffic in Alaska, there was no distress call — just a general request for assistance.
Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Shannon Shepard said by email that the Coast Guard heard the call for help just after 9:30 p.m. Monday night.
“At approximately 9:56 p.m., the Coast Guard determined they were not in distress and issued a marine assistance request broadcast on their behalf,” she said.
John Hollingsworth is the chief operations officer of the Marine Exchange, which is based in Juneau and repeated the broadcast.
“We did assist the Coast Guard with callouts on our radio and (were) able to hail the Wilderness Legacy who ended up rendering assistance,” he said.
“From my experience, I know that situations like this contain myriad details for the vessels involved, so the AIS (tracking) snippet you obtained only reveals one of those details,” he said by email. “I do know that Wilderness Legacy is an UnCruise vessel and is very familiar with Alaska waters, so that may have contributed to them rendering assistance quickly.”
No information was available Friday about who may have been aboard the Launchpad on Monday evening. The Launchpad has been in Southeast Alaska for much of the summer.
After the initial publication of this article, a spokesperson for Mark Zuckerberg emailed a statement: “Mark and his family were not on board at the time of the incident. 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.”
The Wilderness Legacy’s detour is the second incidence of aid rendered by a small cruise ship in Southeast Alaska within two weeks. On July 30, the National Geographic Quest assisted a family who had to swim to shore in Glacier Bay National Park after a humpback whale sank their sailboat.
Dan Blanchard, who owns UnCruise, said he wasn’t initially aware of the Wilderness Legacy’s detour because “this kind of aid is such a common thing that it does not always rise to my attention.”
Sarah Scoltock, a spokeswoman for UnCruise, said the Wilderness Legacy was able to refuel the skiff after towing it into a sheltered area.
“The next day the (Wilderness Legacy’s) captain, Sean Manske, contacted them and received word they made it safely to Petersburg,” she said by email.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Far from a Zuck fan but this was way overblown.
Facebook is not a technology company.
It is a global MONOPOLISTIC ADVERTISING company run by INDIAN citizens, brought into the USA to take WHITE male Americans jobs.
Zuck checked the skiff’s skipper’s FB account and found he was banned for life. Then acted accordingly.
How’s that? Be assured that Zuckerberg yacht had at least one thirty foot “dinghy” aboard his yacht, which can be launched in minutes. Any vessel nearest a disabled or distressed vessel is required to go to, make SOS calls and remain with it until Coast Guard arrives. If the boat takes on water, the rescuing vessel must give assistance to those in the water.
“the yacht of billionaire Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg was closer and hadn’t answered the radio call for help.”
Isn’t that kind of unusual?
Zuck from afar, and far from Zuck
First skiff article in ages. More likely to have spliff or SCIF articles.
Exactly, I sail large boats all over the world. U don’t turn them on a dime and without MUCH thought. A 387’ boat COULD easily swamp a tiny boat and kill everyone on it particularly if it was dark or low light.
And, FTR, I can’t stand Zuckerberg!
One question no one asked was, WHY did they run out of fuel?? You don’t run out of fuel in a car; why in a yacht?? Were they ill-prepared, or did something happen to the engine?
That explains why the company is so successful.
You would be surprised at just how often people run out of fuel in their cars....
“You would be surprised at just how often people run out of fuel in their cars....”
I mostly ran out of gas when I was poor. I usually pay at the pump, but if I’m inside the store or station, I sometimes overhear people requesting tiny amounts of fuel. I did it too. I also often avoided toll roads because I needed the $.40 for gas.
My first car had a broken gas gauge and a broken odometer. In about two years, I only ran out of gas twice.
“Far from a Zuck fan but this was way overblown.”
Not really. The BIG Zuck ship has a 2nd ship, about 100’ shorter, that travels with it — inside their 2nd ship are ‘toys’ including small fast boats that could have been deployed...
That’s TWO ship captains, employed by Zuck that refused to help.
I grew up on the Pacific Ocean on the Northern Oregon Beach and you ALWAYS help a fellow boater.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.