Mark Zuckerberg Denies His Yacht Ignored Distress Call From Vessel

Mark Zuckerberg’s representatives have rejected allegations that his superyacht failed to respond to a nearby boat seeking help in Alaskan waters.

The denial came after reports that a 21-foot skiff, which had run out of fuel between Juneau and Petersburg, was ultimately assisted by a far smaller vessel.

Zuckerberg’s $300 million yacht, The Launchpad, was in the area on August 3, though a spokesman said the Meta chief executive was not on board at the time.

The skiff first contacted the Coast Guard for help. Officials, however, concluded the boat was not in immediate distress and instead issued a marine assistance broadcast requesting aid from nearby vessels.

That call was answered by the Wilderness Legacy, a cruise ship run by UnCruise Adventures, even though Zuckerberg’s 387-foot superyacht was reportedly closer to the scene.

Brian Baker, a spokesman for the Facebook and Instagram founder, told Forbes that The Launchpad was monitoring a different radio channel when the request for assistance was broadcast.

Baker said the yacht’s crew later reviewed the broadcast, but by then another vessel had already moved to respond.

Michael Love wrote on Bluesky that he and his son were aboard the Wilderness Legacy when the cruise ship helped the stranded skiff.

Love wrote that the ship’s captain announced Zuckerberg’s yacht had repeatedly failed to respond to calls for assistance. 

‘There was near-unanimous booing when the captain announced this,’ he wrote.

According to vessel-tracking data cited by the Alaska Beacon, the cruise ship maneuvered around the yacht before towing the skiff to Farragut Bay.

Love later responded to Baker’s claim that the yacht had not intentionally ignored the assistance request.

‘I do think it’s notable that they don’t really dispute any part of the story except to claim that they never received the call rather than ignored it intentionally. I wish they’d offered an explanation as to why their boat stopped at the moment it did,’ he wrote.

According to Lasicilia, US regulations require mariners to assist a vessel only when it is ‘in danger of being lost.’

Since the Coast Guard determined the situation was not a distress emergency, the assessment appears to support Launchpad’s position in this case.

The Meta boss purchased the yacht in 2024, according to the Seattle Times. 

Zuckerberg faced criticism over the lavish mode of transportation after reports surfaced in December of the hundreds of gallons of fuel the ship burns hourly to power its four heavy-duty engines.

The Meta boss was accused of hypocrisy since he has been an outspoken advocate for climate change policies. 

However, some critics noted that Launchpad was just the tip of the iceberg.

The mega yacht has been accompanied on its journeys by a 220-foot, $30 million support ship called Wingman, which can carry smaller boats, a miniature submarine for exploration and even a helicopter.

In just nine months between 2024 and 2025, the superyacht burned more than 528,000 gallons of diesel fuel before docking in France’s La Ciotat shipyard in August, according to the Greek Reporter.

That usage amounted to more than 5,300 tons of carbon emissions being released by the one ship alone, the same as nearly 400 US households over one year.

According to the Beacon, the yacht has been spotted in Southeast Alaska for much of the summer.

The Daily Mail has contacted Meta for comment.