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This might be the only time when reading YouTube comments was illuminating.

From the moment the U.S. Navy posted video of Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava, commenters began noticing things that didn't add up in their story of being lost at sea for months after a storm knocked out power, destroying all available methods of communication, leaving them drifting in the Pacific.

It was too movie-like to be believed. And yet, the planet -- except for you, YouTube -- believed.

 went about as far as it could go without declaring them liars.

"We got into a Force 11 storm, and it lasted for two nights and three days," Jennifer Appel said in an interview last week after their rescue. "And when we got through with that, we were empowered to know that we could withstand the forces of nature, the boat could withstand the forces of nature."

There was no storm, the National Weather Service says.

Appel and Fuiava had claimed they'd been sending out distress signals. But they acknowledged to the Associated Press that they never turned an emergency beacon on because they didn't think they were in a life-threatening situation, a statement that contradicts other statements they uttered after their rescue that there were times they didn't know if they'd survive 24 hours.

The Associated Press added up all their claims, and they don't check out.

The Associated Press says the two also had a working motor after their mast and rigging failed, but they still chose to sail past an inhabitated island.

Appel had also claimed that sharks attacked the hull of the boat while teaching younger sharks how to hunt. 

The AP's reporting leaves just one big question in the unraveling story: Why would they apparently make it all up?

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

The AP's reporting leaves just one big mystery: Why did they make it all up?

Story of adrift sailors begins to sink

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