A dramatic rescue unfolded at sea when a 47-year-old woman, her daughter, and their pets were saved from a perilous situation on their sailboat after a man aboard died and distress flares were deployed.
The crisis began when the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu received an alert at 12:33 p.m. on Saturday, August 24, as Hurricane Gilma neared the region.
The sailboat, named ‘Albroc’ and registered under the French flag, was located approximately 925 miles east of Honolulu, Hawaii.
The U.S. Coast Guard quickly mobilized an aircraft from Air Station Barbers Point to locate the vessel.
By 9 a.m. the following day, the Coast Guard airplane spotted the 47-foot sailboat, which was struggling against severe weather.
According to the woman’s distress call, the boat had been overwhelmed by the storm. The crew observed the vessel drifting and noted water flooding the boat.
The woman was seen igniting distress flares and waving her arms with her daughter before both retreated to the safety of the cabin.
Despite visual confirmation of the sailboat, the airplane crew was unable to establish direct communication with the woman.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Center then called for additional support, requesting help from the U.S. Navy and the Seri Emperor, a Singapore-flagged gas tanker situated roughly 290 miles away.
The Seri Emperor reached the sailboat around 5:20 p.m. on Sunday but faced deteriorating weather conditions due to Hurricane Gilma.
The crew was unable to retrieve the woman and child from the sailboat. They stayed on the scene until the USS ‘William P. Lawrence’, a guided missile destroyer, arrived the next morning.
Given the forecast of swells exceeding 25 feet, the USS ‘William P. Lawrence’ had only a narrow six-hour window to perform the rescue.
A small boat from the destroyer managed to successfully navigate the treacherous waves—ranging between eight and ten feet—to rescue the woman, her daughter, and their two pets: a cat and a tortoise.
U.S. Navy Commander Bobby Wayland praised the crew’s “deft handling” and “good judgment” in executing the rescue.
“I am extremely proud of the crew’s professionalism in planning and executing the safe recovery of two persons at sea on a disabled vessel in worsening conditions,” Commander Wayland said.
The deceased man, identified as the “sailing vessel’s master,” could not be retrieved, and his cause of death was not disclosed. The sailboat remains adrift, with no current plans for its recovery announced.
On Wednesday evening, the USS ‘William P. Lawrence’ docked at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu. The rescued woman and child were met by officials from the French consulate and the Coast Guard.
