Woman, Daughter and Pets Rescued from Sailboat Off Honolulu

The US Coast Guard and Navy worked together to rescue a 47-year-old woman, her daughter and their two pets, a cat and a tortoise, from a 47-ft sailboat about 925 miles off Honolulu this week. After Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) Honolulu received a distress alert from an EPIRB at 12:33 p.m. Saturday, a USCG aircraft crew sighted the French-flagged vessel Albroc adrift in the path of the impending Hurricane Gilma. The aircraft crew then intercepted a VHF call from the woman aboard the vessel reporting that she and her 7-year-old daughter were in need of rescue, and that there was a deceased man on board.

The crew were unable to communicate with the woman but saw her light two distress flares and observed the sailboat drifting and taking waves over the beam. On-scene weather conditions were 6-foot seas and 20 mph winds.

The US Navy diverted the crew of USS William P. Lawrence to the sailboat’s position. Additionally, watchstanders requested assistance from the master of the Seri Emperor, a Singapore-flagged, 754-ft liquid petroleum gas tanker that was approximately 18 hours away from the sailboat.

At 9 a.m. Sunday, a Hercules crew from Air Station Barbers Point arrived on scene and observed a woman and girl waving their arms before retreating inside the cabin. The aircrew unsuccessfully attempted to communicate with the two boaters by radio and dropping message blocks.

At 5:20 p.m. Sunday, the Seri Emperor arrived, but deteriorating weather conditions prohibited its crew from rescuing the woman and child from the vessel. The tanker remained on scene until the William P. Lawrence arrived at 5 a.m. Monday. With seas greater than 25 feet forecast within 12 hours of their position, and the damaged condition of the Albroc, the William P. Lawrence had a six-hour window to safely conduct small-boat recovery operations. A small-boat crew from the Navy ship launched and rescued the woman, girl, a cat and a tortoise from the sailboat.

Due to the 8- to 10-foot seas and 15 mph winds, the crew could not safely recover the deceased individual from the vessel. The sailboat remained adrift approximately 1,000 miles east of Honolulu.

The rescued mariners arrived in Honolulu at 5 p.m. Wednesday, almost five days after deploying their EPIRB.

“Through tireless planning, coordination and teamwork, our watchstanders pieced together the key elements needed for such a dynamic search and rescue case. The use of an EPIRB was also crucial and allowed our aircrews and partners to pinpoint the sailboat’s location. We are grateful the crews of the Seri Emperor and William P. Lawrence were able to reach the mother and daughter, who were caught right in the path of Hurricane Gilma,” the rescue mission’s search and rescue coordinator Kevin Cooper wrote.