U.S. Navy Rescued Two From Disabled Yacht Just Ahead of Hurricane Gilma

Late last month, the U.S. Navy rescued a woman and her seven-year-old daughter from a disabled sailboat in the open waters of the Pacific, just hours ahead of severe weather from an approaching hurricane. 

At about 1230 hours on August 24, the Coast Guard's rescue coordination center in Honolulu received an EPIRB distress alert from the sailing vessel Albroc, a French-flagged 47-foot yacht. The center dispatched an HC-130 long range SAR aircraft to investigate and sent out a request for assistance from merchant shipping via the AMVER network.

The HC-130 aircrew arrived first, and they saw that the vessel was adrift and taking waves over the beam. They picked up a Channel 16 mayday call from a passenger aboard the vessel, though they were not able to establish two-way communication. The caller was a 47-year-old woman, and in her mayday broadcast, she said that she and her seven-year-old daughter were in need of a rescue. She also reported that the boat's skipper was deceased. 

The Honolulu Joint Rescue Coordination Center asked for assistance from the U.S. Navy, which had a destroyer in the area, the USS William P. Lawrence. The JRCC also reached out to the LPG carrier Seri Emperor, which was operating about 300 miles to the south. 

The Seri Emperor arrived first, reaching the scene at 1720 hours on August 25. However, the crew were unable to directly assist because of worsening weather conditions. Hurricane Gilma was approaching the area and the seas were becoming much rougher. Seri Emperor stood by and waited until the USS William P. Lawrence arrived at 0500 the next day. 

When Lawrence arrived on scene, conditions were worsening, and the forecast called for 25-foot seas within 12 hours. This left just six hours to retrieve the survivors before the weather would be too severe for operations. The Lawrence's small-boat team launched, retrieve the woman and her daughter, and returned to their ship - along with a pet cat and a tortoise. 

“My boat crew – in particular the coxswain – demonstrated deft boat handling and good judgement in approaching the distressed vessel and transferring the survivors. I also appreciate the remarkable coordination and information provided by the USCG throughout the entire operation – very cool to see the Navy / Coast Guard team work together so smoothly," said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Bobby Wayland, CO of the USS William P. Lawrence. 

Due to the approaching storm, the skipper's body was not recovered, and for now it remains in the drifting boat.