Zuckerberg's Megayacht Left the Boat in Trouble Without Help

The small cruise ship Wilderness Legacy detoured Monday night in Southeast Alaska to help a 21-foot skiff that had run out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau, Alaska Beacon reported in an Aug. 8.

Michael Love, a software developer from New York City who was a passenger aboard the cruise ship, described the event on Bluesky. Love said the captain announced that the yacht of billionaire Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg was closer and had not answered the radio call for help. “There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this,” Love wrote.

Vessel tracking services in the area showed the 387-foot, $300 million yacht Launchpad slowing to a halt outside Farragut Bay. The services showed Wilderness Legacy steaming around and past Launchpad, stopping at the apparent site of the skiff and towing it into sheltered Farragut Bay.

Social media accounts responding to Love’s account accused the yacht’s crew of violating international agreements requiring aid from the nearest ship to a vessel in distress. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Marine Exchange of Alaska said there was no distress call, only a general request for assistance. “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,” Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Shannon Shepard said by email.

John Hollingsworth, chief operations officer of the Juneau-based Marine Exchange, said the exchange repeated the broadcast and helped the Coast Guard with radio callouts. “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. Hollingsworth said tracking data showed only one detail of the situation and that Wilderness Legacy’s familiarity with Alaska waters may have helped it respond quickly.

No information was available Friday about who may have been aboard Launchpad on Monday evening, and Alaska Beacon reported that the yacht had been in Southeast Alaska for much of the summer. UnCruise spokeswoman Sarah Scoltock said Wilderness Legacy refueled the skiff after towing it into shelter, and that captain Sean Manske later received word the people aboard had made it safely to Petersburg. The detour was the second reported instance in two weeks of a small cruise ship aiding boaters in Southeast Alaska.