Heinz Wants To Find The Man Who Survived A Month At Sea With Nothing But Ketchup And Buy Him A New Boat

February 22, 2023

Heinz is trying to track down the man who survived for nearly a month at sea on nothing but ketchup.

man survives at sea on ketchup Heinz
@ArmadaColombia / Twitter

Last month, the Colombian Navy, in coordination with the General Maritime Directorate and the National Aeronaval Service of Panama, rescued a sailor 120 nautical miles northwest of Puerto Bolívar in the Guajira department of Colombia.

The Naval Institution had received information about a sailboat with the word "HELP" engraved on its hull.

The sailor, identified as 47-year-old Elvis Francois, said that his ordeal began in December when currents swept the sailboat out to sea while he was making repairs off the island of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles.

Francois, who is originally from the island nation of Dominica, claimed to have survived 24 days adrift in the Caribbean with nothing but ketchup and food seasonings.

"Twenty-four days — no land, nobody to talk to, don't know what to do, don't know where you are — it was rough. At a certain time, I lose hope. I think about my family," Francois said in a video released by the Navy.

"I had no food. It was just a bottle of ketchup that was on the boat, garlic powder and Maggi. So I mixed it up with some water."

Now, Heinz is asking people to help the company find Francois.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Heinz (@heinz)

"To whoever finds this message, we need your help tracking down an amazing man with an amazing story. You may remember Elvis Francois as the brave sailor who survived on nothing but ketchup and spices while adrift at sea for 24 days. Well, Heinz wants to celebrate his safe return home and help him buy a new boat...but we can't seem to find him," the company said in an Instagram post.

In a statement to CBS News, a spokesperson for Heinz said that they want to gift Francois a "new state-of-the-art boat" that will be "equipped with full navigational technology to avoid another disaster in the future."