A 47-year-old woman, her daughter and their pets were rescued from a sailboat after a man on board died and distress flares were fired, authorities said.
Authorities were first made aware of the situation when a distress alert was received by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu at 12:33 p.m. on Saturday, August 24. Hurricane Gilma The ship approached the area. The ship’s position was approximately 925 miles east of Honolulu, Hawaii, according to a U.S. Coast Guard news release. An aircraft crew took off from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point.
The plane found the 47-foot sailboat, named the Albroc, at 9 a.m. Sunday morning. The French-flagged ship was “in bad weather,” the woman said in a distress call. The plane’s crew saw the sailboat drifting and water flowing over the ship’s beam. The woman was seen lighting flares, and she and her daughter were also seen waving their arms before heading back into the ship’s cabin.
U.S. Navy / Chief Warrant Officer 2 Lance Watson
Despite finding the ship, the plane’s crew “was unable to establish direct communication with the woman.” Observers from the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu then requested assistance from the U.S. Navy, which diverted the crew of the USS William P. Lawrence to the site. Observers also requested assistance from the Seri Emperor, a Singapore-flagged ship that was about 290 miles from the sailboat.
The Seri Emperor, an oil tanker, arrived at the sailboat around 5:20 p.m. Sunday but was unable to “recover the woman and child … due to deteriorating weather conditions” as Hurricane Gilma approached. The tanker’s crew remained on site until the USS William P. Lawrence arrived Monday morning.
With waves over 25 feet expected in the area, the USS William P. Lawrence, a guided-missile destroyer, had just six hours to help the woman and child.
The crew of a small boat was able to launch and rescue the woman, child and their two pets — a cat and a turtle. Waves were 8 to 10 feet high during the boat rescue, authorities said. “Skillful management” and “good judgment” were required to salvage the situation, U.S. Navy Commander Bobby Wayland said in the news release.
U.S. Coast Guard / Kevin Cooper
“I am extremely proud of the professionalism of the crew in planning and executing the safe recovery of two people at sea from a disabled vessel in increasingly difficult conditions,” Wayland said.
The deceased man could not be found. Authorities did not give a cause of death, but said he was the “captain of the sailboat.”
The USS William P. Lawrence docked at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu on Wednesday evening. The woman and child disembarked from the destroyer and were met by officials from the French consulate and representatives of the Coast Guard.
The sailboat is still adrift. Authorities have not said whether any measures are planned to recover it.
US Coast Guard / Guillaume Maman
