Social media scuttlebutt about Mark Zuckerberg’s $300 million superyacht failing to assist stranded boaters off the coast of Alaska was partly corroborated by ship-tracking data—and eventually prompted responses from both the US Coast Guard and a spokesperson for Zuckerberg.
The incident was made public when Michael Love, a passenger aboard the replica steamship Wilderness Legacy during an Alaska cruise, posted about it on the social media platform Bluesky. The ship detoured to rescue a stranded 21-foot skiff with two women, a child and a dog, after the US Coast Guard had supposedly first radioed Zuckerberg’s superyacht, Launchpad, for help without success.
“There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this,” Love wrote in describing the Alaska cruise passengers’ response to the lack of help from Zuckerberg’s ship.
The US Coast Guard described being hailed for assistance by the stranded boat located near Point Highland, Alaska, at 9:32 pm on August 3, in a statement shared by Halifax Shipping News. After the Coast Guard determined the vessel was not in distress, it issued a marine assistance request broadcast asking for voluntary help from nearby mariners.
This is an important distinction because it means nearby vessels were not legally obligated to respond. If the Coast Guard had determined the stranded boat was in distress, then both international maritime law and US law would have legally required ship captains to render assistance.
Although Launchpad and its $30 million support ship, Wingman, were not legally obligated to assist in this case, it may have represented a missed opportunity to do a little bit of good, according to Love, the passenger aboard the Wilderness Legacy.
“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,” Love told the Alaska Beacon in a Bluesky message.
