() — The sailor who spent weeks lost at sea in January, surviving largely on ketchup, could now have a new, state-of-the-art boat.
The attractive gift would be provided by ketchup giant Heinz, which is trying to track down Elvis Francois.
The company published a notice on social media on February 14 in hopes of locating the Dominica sailor. According to Heinz’s social media, they have already contacted the government of Dominica, the island nation Francois is from, as well as the Colombian navy, which rescued him northwest of Puerto Bolívar in Colombia.
But so far, none of the attempts to find Francois have been successful, Heinz said.
So the ketchup retailer is now asking “the general public to try to help with the search,” according to a statement that was shared with via email.
“We also ask for credible leads to contact Elvis so that we can help him obtain a new ship equipped with full navigation technology to prevent another disaster in the future,” the company added.
Heinz suggested fans use the hashtag #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy to broaden their search.
Francois, 47, was repairing his boat near the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin in December when adverse weather conditions drove the vessel out to sea. He told Colombian authorities that he lacked the navigation skills to return to shore and spent 24 days at sea. He survived on a bottle of ketchup, garlic powder and Maggi bouillon cubes, which he mixed with water.
He was rescued when a plane spotted his sailboat with the word “help” etched on the hull of his sailboat, according to Colombian authorities.
