Casualty of the Month

Dog Adrift

• 3/13/02 - The 256-foot Indonesian fishing supply ship/tanker Insiko 1907 had an engine fire which spread to the accommodations leaving the vessel disabled, without power, nor any means of communications. One crewman was killed and the chief engineer badly burned in the fire. The ship drifted for 20 days over 100 miles and was 220 miles southwest of Hawaii when the Bahamian cruiseship Norwegian Star en route from Kona, Hawaii, to Fanning Island, Kiribati spotted a distress flare just after midnight. The 11 survivors (two Taiwanese and nine Chinese) were picked up by a boat from the cruise ship, which then turned back to Hawaii. The burned man was transferred by a Coast Guard helicopter to Honolulu. The other ten were transferred to the USCG Assateague and taken to Kona. The Fanning Island call was canceled for the Norwegian Star which put into Lahaina on Maui before resuming her regular schedule. The body of the chief engineer was left behind.
  
  Four days later, with the crew safely in Hawaii, it was learned that the captain had left his 2-year-old dog Forgea on board. A Humane Society spokeswoman severely criticized the captain of the Norwegian Star because he never knew the dog had been left behind. Despite spending an hour on the bridge of the cruise ship during and after the rescue, the master of the supply tanker apparently never mentioned his dog.
  
  The Hawaiian Humane Society spent $50,000 to charter the American Marine Services tug American Quest and an airplane in an attempt to rescue the dog. They were unable to relocate the tanker, returned to Hawaii empty-handed and declared the ship likely sunk.On April 9, a Japanese fishing vessel reported seeing the burnt-out hulk still adrift south of Hawaii.
  
  The Taiwanese master and chief engineer soon flew home. However, the nine Chinese crewmen left their Honolulu hotel for dinner April 3 and never returned. The INS began a search of the watering holes of Waikiki in hopes of re-rescuing them. After ten days lost in the wilds of Honolulu, the nine heard the searchers were nearing and went forth to greet their newest rescuers. The INS provided room and board at the federal detention center where the men could await their travel documents and hopefully get a quick trip home to their loved ones.
  
  Forgea remained drift on the burned out hulk until April 21 when he was spotted running back and forth on the bridge wings by a Coast Guard C-130 which spotted the hulk 250 miles east of Johnston Atoll. The C-130 crew dropped pizza and sandwiches to the dog. The next day, American Marine Services arranged for a U.S. tuna longliner reach the tanker, however, the dog eluded the longliner crew and that of a second crew.
  
  On April 23, Insiko 1907 drifted into the US EEZ around Johnston Atoll. The Coast Guard then charted the American Quest to sail to the ship and take it under tow. Reaching the ship on April 28, Forgea quickly responded to food offered and was taken on board the tug. With Insiko 1907 in tow, the tug sailed for Barbers Point, Hawaii arriving May 2. The remains of the dead crewman will be recovered and any oil on board removed before disposition of the hulk is decided. As for Forgea, may he live long and prosper.