Sailors finally ashore

A US Navy ship carrying two sailors it rescued in the Pacific docked yesterday at an American naval base in Japan. Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava were standing with the USS Ashland’s commanding officer and others on the bridgeway when the ship arrived at White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, five days after it picked up the women and their two dogs from their storm-damaged sailboat, 1500 kilometres southeast of Japan. Appel and Fuiava had left Honolulu on May 3 for what was supposed to be an 18-day trip to Tahiti. Storms damaged the masthead, the boat lost its engine and communication devices and their food was 90 per cent depleted by the time they were rescued.