Dead couple washes ashore in life raft, prompting Canada police investigation

Canada's national police force is investigating the deaths of two sailors whose bodies washed ashore earlier this month on a raft in Nova Scotia. 

One of the sailors was identified this week as a 70-year-old man from British Columbia who set sail in early June for a planned tour across the Atlantic in his yacht, the Theros, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday. While they continued working to confirm the second sailor's identity, investigators were confident that she was the other person known to have been on board the yacht when it left Halifax Harbor for the Azores on June 11, according to police. His sailing partner was a 54-year-old woman, also from British Columbia, they said.

Both sailors had been reported missing on June 18.

Although law enforcement didn't publicly name either of them, an apparent family member identified the couple as James Brett Clibbery and his wife, Sarah Justine Packwood, in a social media post shared three days after the bodies washed ashore on July 10. The post was shared by a man who said Clibbery was his father and whose name is also James Clibbery. (The elder James Clibbery appeared to go by his middle name, Brett, based on the vlogs that he and Packwood used to regularly film and publish on their YouTube channel, called Theros Adventures in reference to their yacht.)

"The past few days have been very hard. My father James Brett Clibbery , and his wife, Sarah Justine Packwood have regrettably passed away," the younger James Clibbery said in the July 13 post. "There is still an investigation, as well as a DNA test to confirm, but with all the news, it is hard to remain hopeful."

The sailor's son described his father and Packwood as "amazing people" and said "there isn't anything that will fill the hole that has been left by their, so far unexplained passing."

The pair were found dead in a 10-foot inflatable boat that had washed up onto the beaches of Sable Island, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. Sable Island is a small protected island in the North Atlantic, almost 200 miles from Halifax on the Nova Scotian coast. Investigators believe that the inflatable was a life boat once attached to the larger Theros yacht.

Canadian police said investigators do not believe their deaths were "suspicious in nature." 

"Investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police/Halifax Regional Police Integrated Criminal Investigation Division continue to gather information and analyze evidence in an effort to determine what may have occurred at sea," police said.

One theory, from the Canadian news site Saltwire, suggested that a much bigger vessel struck and damaged the couple's boat soon after they embarked on their trip from Halifax, forcing them to use the life raft. CBS News contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Clibbery and Packwood were avid travelers and sailors who over the last few years had documented various trips around the world together, including some massive sailing excursions, on their YouTube channel.  

They teased their transatlantic voyage from Halifax in the months leading up to their departure. In one video, posted on their channel in early April, Clibbery explained that they'd made upgrades and mechanical adjustments to the Theros ahead of the then-upcoming sailing season. Those changes included installing an electric motor — they spoke often in earlier videos about reducing their carbon footprint — fixing six solar panels to the boat in order to charge the engine battery.

In:
• Nova Scotia
• Yacht
• Boat Accident
• Canada

Emily Mae Czachor

Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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