Elvis Francois, 47, was in the process of repairing his boat when he was suddenly pulled out to sea last December.
Francois was stranded for 24 days before he was finally rescued when a plane saw the word “help” engraved into the hull of Francois’s sailboat, according to Colombian authorities.
The Dominica native subsisted for those 3 ½ weeks on meager rations: garlic powder, Maggi stock cubes mixed with water, and ketchup.
One would think he may not want to see any of those ingredients for quite some time, but at least where the ketchup is concerned, it may soon be associated with a much happier happenstance.
After hearing Francois’s incredible story, ketchup giant Heinz began attempting to track him down, putting out the word on social media on Valentine’s Day.
It seems Heinz wants to buy Francois a new, state-of-the-art, seafaring vessel.
“We're… asking for any credible leads to contact Elvis so we can help cover a new boat equipped with full navigational technology to avoid another disaster in the future,” a Heinz spokesperson told CNN in an email as they endeavored to locate the formerly-stranded sailor.
After coming up empty for days of trending for the hashtag #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy, the ketchup company finally found their man thanks to Dominican news site EmoNews.
Heinz posted the update Saturday that they even spoke with Francois via a Zoom chat, so perhaps he’ll “catch up” to the latest in sailing technology very soon.
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