British woman and her husband found dead in lifeboat off Canadian coast

Do you really support
independent journalism

Find out moreClose

Our mission is to provide unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds the powerful to account and exposes the truth.

Whether it’s $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us in practicing journalism without an agenda.

A British-Canadian couple who embarked on a “green odyssey” across the Atlantic were found dead in a lifeboat after being forced to abandon their solar-powered yacht.

Sarah Packwood, 54, of Warwick, and Canadian Brett Clibbery, 70, disappeared on June 18 after leaving Nova Scotia, Canada, on their sailboat a week earlier.

Their bodies were found last week on a 10-foot lifeboat that washed up on the shore of Sable Island, 180 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia.

Following her departure, Ms Packwood released a farewell video message: “Captain Brett and First Officer Sarah set sail on board the 42ft sailing yacht Theros – GibSea for the second leg of the Green Odyssey. Powered by wind and sun. Heading east to the Azores.”

Mrs Packwood, a poet, musician and Reiki healer, was also an experienced sailor and learned the craft at university in England. Brett’s son James posted an obituary on Facebook, saying: “The last few days have been very tough.

“My father James Brett Clibbery and his wife Sarah Justine Packwood have sadly passed away. The investigation and a DNA test to confirm are ongoing but with all the news it is difficult not to give up hope.

“They were amazing people and there is nothing that can fill the void left by their unexplained deaths.

“Life would not be the same without your wisdom, and your wife quickly became a beacon of knowledge and kindness. I miss your smile. I miss your voices. You will be missed forever.”

The couple’s adventurous life began when they met by chance at a bus stop in London in 2015.

They married on the yacht a year later and then held a Celtic wedding ceremony known as a handfasting at Stonehenge. They then returned to Canada, where they bought a piece of land on Salt Spring Island near Vancouver.

Police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have launched an investigation into the deaths, but cannot yet rule out an accident, power outage, fire or suspicious circumstances.

According to the BBC, one theory is that the pair were forced to abandon their yacht after being rammed by a passing cargo ship that was unaware of the collision.