Sinking planned for tanker; final trap may catch dog
| • | Map: Saving the elusive Forgea |
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
It appears that the U.S. Coast Guard plans to scuttle the derelict tanker Insiko 1907 to prevent it from running aground in protected wildlife sanctuaries at Johnston Island.
Humane Society President Pamela Burns said last night that before the tanker goes down, a final effort will be made to rescue the ship's dog, Forgea, which was left behind when the crew was rescued three weeks ago.
Fishermen in the area boarded the Insiko Sunday to try to retrieve the dog, but it ran from them and had not reappeared on deck since yesterday morning, Burns said.
The plan is for a tugboat to deliver a humane trap to the Insiko to be baited with food so that Forgea can be captured without harm and transferred to the tug.
If Forgea cannot be trapped, the alternative would be to tow the vessel to Johnston Island so that experts could attempt to rescue it on board.
Lt. Cmdr. Craig Peterson of the Coast Guard's marine safety office, said the 30-year-old Insiko, an Indonesian flag tanker that served some 250 fishing boats working the seas south of Hawai'i, still has about 52,000 gallons of diesel fuel remaining aboard.
Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer David Mosley said last night that the Coast Guard has been weighing a response to a possible environmental threat from the Insiko, but said he had not been told of any formal decision.
But Rusty Nall, vice president of American Marine Corp., said last night that his company has been hired to send the tugboat American Quest to the Insiko tonight, and tow it far enough away from Johnston that it can be safely sunk in at least 6,000 feet of water.
American Marine Corp. has been helping the society in a world-renowned effort to save the dog.
Another Coast Guard official, Lt. Jeff Janszen, said a federal project number, or FPN, had been opened for a possible environmental operation involving the Insiko, and that Coast Guard Capt. Terry Rice had been talking with American Marine about the matter yesterday.
Burns said she understood permission has been given by the family of a crew member whose body remains on the ship to allow him to be buried at sea by letting his remains go down with the vessel.
The crew member was killed in the March 13 fire that disabled the tanker and left it drifting until April 2, when other crew members were rescued by the cruise ship Norwegian Star.
Nall said it would take the American Quest 3 1/2 days to reach the Insiko, and about two days to tow it to a point 200 miles south of Johnston that is downwind and downcurrent from the protected wildlife sanctuaries. Those are the requirements of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he said.
Nall said the dog has not come to trust her would-be rescuers yet.
"They really wanted to get the dog, but she just doesn't know them and she is afraid, and she's just hiding out," Nall said.
The dog, who was the pet of Insiko Capt. Chung Chin Po of Taiwan, has taken food and water put out by the fishermen, but has retreated into hiding places on the vessel.
The fishermen even learned the Mandarin word for the command, "come," which is "lai," but it didn't help, Nall said.
"Forgea is exceedingly fearful, and attempts to rescue her have scared her even more," Burns said.
Burns said it has cost an estimated $200,000 for the search-and-rescue effort so far.
Most of the original $50,000 budgeted by the society and its national counterpart, the Humane Society of the United States, has been spent primarily on $9,600-a-day tug boat charters at American Marine Corp.
Most of the cash costs for the search have been covered by donations from the two humane societies and from animal lovers worldwide, Burns said.
The crew was rescued by the Norwegian Star cruise ship April 2, but the captain of the cruise liner said later he did not know there was a dog left behind until after the risky night rescue was accomplished and the ship was on its way to Hilo to get medical treatment for injured crew members.
Two days later, the Hawaiian and United States humane societies announced they were launching a $50,000 effort to search for the ship and retrieve the dog.
The first search by American Marine was called off after two days when the ship could not be found.
A second search, launched after a fishing boat spotted a vessel that might be the Insiko, also ended in failure.
A Coast Guard C-130 on an environmental mission spotted the Insiko Saturday, and gave coordinates that allowed American Marine to detour fishing boats in the area to the derelict tanker Sunday.
Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
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