2 Sailors and their Dogs Rescued after Nonths adrift at Sea

The amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD 48) arrived in Okinawa Oct. 30 as part of a scheduled port visit to prepare for the joint U.S. exercise Blue Chromite.

The port visit also serves as a disembarkation point for the two mariners who had been adrift in the Pacific Ocean for several months. The Ashland crew rescued Jennifer Appel, Natasha Fuiava, and Appel’s two dogs Zeus and Valentine Oct. 25 after they had been stranded at sea with a failed engine, a broken mast and were far from their original destination of Tahiti.

The story

Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuaiba, had attempted to sail from Hawaii to Tahiti, departing in May for a trip that would take them across the equator and the doldrums. However, on May 30 they ran into serious trouble: their motor died, leaving them dependent on sail. They continued on their course for two months before attempting to signal for help, but to no avail.

Despite multiple signals to passing vessels, no one answered their call. Appel said they survived the situation by bringing water purifiers and over a year’s worth of food on board, primarily in the form of dry goods like oatmeal, pasta and rice.

On October 24, a Taiwanese fishing vessel located them 900 miles southeast of an unspecified Japanese territory – thousands of miles to the west of their original course. The fishing vessel contacted the U.S. Coast Guard station at Guam, which coordinated with authorities in Taiwan, Japan and Honolulu to arrange a rescue.

USS Ashland was operating in the vicinity, and she transited to assist, arriving at 1030 hours the following morning. The Ashland’s sailors brought the two women aboard, along with their two dogs. They were provided with medical assessments, food and berthing, and they will remain on board until the vessel’s next port of call.