The operation was launched late in the day by the Etel Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Centre (CROSS) after the vessel was spotted near the Ile d'Yeu off France's Atlantic coast.
A helicopter and a maritime surveillance aircraft were deployed to search for "the potential occupants of a 13-metre sailing yacht adrift in the relatively calm seas", the Atlantic maritime prefecture said.
The alert was raised by a passenger aboard a Brittany Ferries vessel travelling from Portsmouth in Britain to Bilbao in Spain, who spotted the yacht apparently in distress.
According to an AFP journalist on the ferry, the vessel interrupted its voyage and launched a rescue boat carrying three crew members.
The team found no signs of life aboard the yacht or in the water around it.
The number of people who may have been on board remains unknown.
"No emergency beacon has been activated," the maritime prefecture said.
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