KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Brian Murray, a diving salvage supervisor who will be going after the Insiko 1907, used a mechanical dog yesterday to show the trap that may be used to secure Forgea.

Coast Guard heads
out to retrieve
tanker, dog

The sea mission also aims to
bring back a stranded dog, Forgea

---

By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

The U.S. Coast Guard has set out to retrieve a burned-out tanker drifting toward Johnston Island with the body of a crewman and a 2-year-old mixed terrier, Forgea, that has already been the target of two previous rescue attempts.

The abandoned Insiko 1907, disabled by a fire March 13, drifted yesterday within 200 nautical miles of Johnston Island, allowing the Coast Guard to tap into a $50 million federal oil pollution fund to avert a possible oil spill, said Capt. Gilbert J. Kanazawa, commanding officer of the Honolulu port.

"What we want to do is prevent ... any oil contamination," Kanazawa said.

"There's a great potential for the oil to spill," he said. "That's the whole reason why we're doing this."

The Insiko is carrying more than 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other oils, and if it continues on its present course, it could run aground within five or six days, Kanazawa said. The Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is home to many shorebirds, including shearwaters, brown boobies and great frigate birds.

"We'll certainly make every effort to retrieve the dog and the body on there," Kanazawa said.

The body of the crewman who died in the fire is reported to be in the operating room, which apparently is half-flooded and dangerous to enter, Kanazawa said.

The Coast Guard contracted American Marine Corp. to send a tugboat to intercept the Insiko. The same tugboat, American Quest, was sent on a previous mission to rescue Forgea, the Insiko captain's dog, which was left behind when the crew members were rescued by a cruise ship on April 2 after drifting without power for 21 days.

The Hawaiian Humane Society paid $48,000 for the previous rescue attempt, which failed when the tugboat crew was unable to locate the Insiko and assumed it had sunk.

Kanazawa said this time the Insiko should be easier to locate, and a Coast Guard C-130 will fly over the area today to get a more accurate location of the tanker. The tugboat will cost about $13,000 a day and should take three to four days to reach the Insiko.

He said that there is no limit on how much the Coast Guard can spend to prevent oil pollution, but "we try to be judicial in taxpayers' dollars," he said.

PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS The Coast Guard released this image yesterday from video taken Saturday, when it spotted Forgea (in circle), the dog that has spent 22 days adrift on the tanker Insiko 1907.

The Coast Guard has not yet determined where the Insiko will be towed to, but possibilities include taking it to deep ocean and sinking it or towing it back to land.

Kanazawa said the Coast Guard is not coordinating its efforts with the Humane Society, but dog handlers were training the tugboat crew in methods to capture Forgea, who eluded attempts by fisherman to rescue her earlier this week.

Although Humane Society staff will not be allowed on this rescue mission, President Pamela Burns issued a statement yesterday saying, "We will provide humane animal traps and tasty treats for the American Quest crew to use, and show them how everything works."

"If Forgea is not contained by the humane animal trap, arrangements will be made for Hawaiian Humane Society staff to go on board and retrieve her while the ship is still in open water," Burns said.