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By Steve Mollman
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A yacht owned by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is facing scrutiny after a passenger aboard an Alaska cruise ship claimed it failed to respond to a call for help involving a stranded boat.
The allegation spread rapidly online, with social media users questioning whether the billionaire's vessel ignored a nearby mariner in need of assistance.
What Happened?
A 21-foot skiff ran out of fuel off the coast of Southeast Alaska on August 3 and contacted the U.S. Coast Guard seeking assistance. A nearby cruise ship, the Wilderness Legacy, responded to the call and assisted the vessel.
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Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Shannon Shepard said the agency first received the skiff's request for help at approximately 9:32 p.m.
"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," Shepard told the Alaska Beacon.
UnCruise Adventures told Newsweek that the vessel carried two women and a child and became low on fuel while traveling from Juneau to Petersburg. The company said the Wilderness Legacy heard the Coast Guard's assistance request at about 10:30 p.m. and provided fuel before helping guide the vessel four to five miles into Farragut Bay, where the crew assisted with anchoring it safely. The company said Captain Sean Manske contacted the boat's occupants the following day and learned they had made it safely to Petersburg.
The controversy centers on Launchpad, Zuckerberg's 387-foot yacht. YachtWorld estimated its cost at around $300 million. UnCruise Adventures told Newsweek that Launchpad "was nearby" and said vessel tracking data publicly available online shows it was closer to the stranded boat than the Wilderness Legacy.
Part of the attention stems from the contrast between a billionaire-owned superyacht and a small vessel in need of help.
Michael Love, who said he was a passenger aboard the Wilderness Legacy, wrote on social media that the Coast Guard radioed Zuckerberg's yacht but that it "repeatedly refused to respond." Love added that there was "near-unanimous booing" from passengers when the ship's captain informed them of the situation.
UnCruise Adventures told Newsweek it had no information regarding whether Launchpad received or responded to the relevant radio traffic and had no direct communication with the yacht regarding the incident. The company said it had nothing to add regarding why Zuckerberg's yacht did not respond to the call for assistance.
Newsweek contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and Meta for additional comment.
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What Did Zuckerberg's Team Say?
A Meta spokesperson told the Associated Press that the crew aboard Launchpad did not initially hear the Coast Guard communication. The spokesperson also said Zuckerberg and his family were not aboard the vessel at the time.
"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," the spokesperson added.
What Did the Coast Guard Say?
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the call for assistance was made over VHF Channel 16, which vessels are expected to monitor.
The agency then issued a marine assistance request on the vessel's behalf.
A nearby cruise ship, the Wilderness Legacy, responded to that request, reached the vessel about an hour later, towed it to Farragut Bay and helped refuel it. The Coast Guard said the skiff made it safely to its destination.
The Coast Guard's determination that the vessel was not in distress is central to the debate because maritime experts say distress situations carry different obligations for nearby vessels than routine assistance requests.
Was Zuckerberg's Yacht Required to Respond?
Maritime law expert Ian Ralby told the AP that the situation appeared to fall into the assistance category rather than an emergency distress situation.
Ralby compared the difference to calling roadside assistance rather than emergency services.
"It's the difference between calling AAA and 911," he said. A true distress call generally creates a legal obligation for nearby vessels to assist if doing so would not endanger their own crews, while non-emergency assistance requests are treated differently.
He added that the key issues that typically trigger a mandatory response are threats to human life or significant environmental danger. Based on the available information, the Alaska incident did not appear to meet that threshold.
Contact Newsweek editor for this story: Anthony Murray.
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