Heinz searches for man who survived on ketchup for 24 days at sea

Virgin Radio

27 Feb 2023, 10:08

When Elvis Francois from Dominica spent almost a month lost at sea, he managed to survive on a bottle of ketchup. Now, Heinz wants to find him and give him a new boat. 

Francois was on his boat in St Maarten in the Caribbean when he was dragged out to sea by bad weather. After engraving HELP into the boat, he was eventually rescued a full 700 miles from where he started.

NBC reports that he survived on just a bottle of tomato ketchup combined with garlic powder and stock cubes. “Without no food, it was just a bottle of ketchup that was on the boat. Garlic powder and Maggi (stock cubes), so I mixed it up with some water," he explained.

Well, now Heinz wants to track down the “amazing man with an amazing story.”

In an Instagram post, the company wrote: “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.

“So, we’re setting this message adrift into the sea of the internet, because if anyone can help us find him, it’s you.”

Requesting people get in contact with them if they can help get in touch, the post ended with the hashtags #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy, #MessageInABottle and #DoYourThing.”

Seemingly having had no success in their search, Heinz then posted a map of Dominica a couple of days later, saying: “Square miles: 290, Villages: 53, Towns: 18, Elvis Francois: ?”

The following day, the ketchup makers posted again, writing: “We’ve reached an impasse in our search for Elvis Francois, but we know he’s still out there.”

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

Let’s hope they find him!