The crew of a 387-foot, $300 million super yacht owned by billionaire and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg missed a radio call for maritime assist from a small boat that ran out of fuel off the coast of south-east Alaska last week.

By the time Launchpad’s crew heard the 21-foot skiff’s call for help – issued around 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 3 through the U.S. Coast Guard – while on a trip between Petersburg and Juneau, Alaska, another ship nearby had already stepped in to help, according to a Zuckerberg spokesperson. The Meta CEO and his family were not on board at the time of the incident.

While the Coast Guard initially decided the skiff wasn’t in distress, it broadcast a maritime assistance request around 30 minutes later.

The small cruise ship, called Wilderness Legacy, was further away from the skiff than Launchpad was, according to vessel-tracking services and the ship’s captain. He made the announcement while the rescue was underway that Zuckerberg’s super yacht had “refused” to help, according to one passenger.

“There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this,” vacationer Micael Love posted on Bluesky.

The same tracking services also showed Wilderness Legacy sailing past Launchpad to help the stranded skiff while Zuckerberg’s mega-yacht remained stagnant in the water. The cruise ship towed the boat into nearby Farragut Bay in Southeast Alaska and refueled it.

Under maritime law, every civilian ship is required to respond to a distress call, as long as doing so doesn’t put a captain’s own ship, crew, or passengers in serious danger.

“As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway,” the spokesperson’s email to the Alaska Beacon, which first reported the incident, read. “We’re grateful all parties are safe.”

The spokesperson also said that Zuckerberg’s yacht crew had been operating on a different radio channel when the skiff’s call was issued.

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.