Two women, a child and a dog ran out of fuel in a 21-foot skiff, adrift between Petersburg and Juneau, Alaska.
Just meters away floated the Launchpad, Mark Zuckerberg’s 387-foot, roughly $300 million superyacht, closer to the skiff than any other vessel. The Coast Guard issued a request for assistance that same night. According to a passenger aboard the Wilderness Legacy, the tourist boat that ultimately towed the family to Farragut Bay, the captain announced that Zuckerberg’s yacht had not responded — and passengers greeted the news with nearly unanimous boos.
Zuckerberg’s spokesperson later explained that the crew was monitoring another radio channel and that neither he nor his family was aboard that night. The Coast Guard also clarified that it was not a formal distress call. But the explanation does not change the impression left by the episode: a $300 million yacht did not respond to the request for help, and another boat ended up assisting the family.