DOG IS FOUND ALIVE MONTH AFTER BOAT SINKS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A Labrador retriever has been found alive on an isolated cove of a Southeast Alaska island more than a month after its owner was given up for dead when his boat sank in rough seas.

Two local fishermen found the dog named Brick on Heceta Island several miles from the accident. The men had known the dog's owner, Greg Clark, who went down with his boat in late January.

Brick swam to the men's boat and was hauled aboard — underweight, with an injured leg, fur matted with tree sap, but wiggling with joy, according to friends of the fishermen.

The discovery of the 8-year-old dog last week sent a shock through the close-knit rain-forest community of mariners and loggers, who had given up hope of finding Clark, 48.

"I was blown away," said John Pugh, a friend of Clark who has custody of the animal.

The dog was starting to rebound, Pugh told the Anchorage Daily News. "He's hungry as hell and a little skinny, but he's doing all right."

Clark was lost after his 32-foot boat Katrina broke apart Jan. 22 on rocks near Cape Lynch on the west side of the island, among a cluster of islands within the 17 million-acre Tongass National Forest. Clark, a longtime beach logger who lived alone with half a dozen Labs and their pups, had been making a supply run into Craig from his home on Kosciusko Island when he radioed his boat had lost power.

With him was Brick, his constant companion, and a 2-month-old puppy Clark had planned to deliver to new owners in town.

A three-day search by local residents and Coast Guard crews found a rolled-up survival suit, part of the boat's stern and other debris, but no sign of Clark or his dogs.

Over the past month, people had resigned themselves that Clark and his dogs were gone, Pugh said. The animals left at home were adopted by Clark's brother in Oregon and friends in Alaska.

Then last Thursday, Kevin Dau — Pugh's partner in an oyster operation — was fishing for winter king salmon with his father off the northwestern coast of Heceta near the accident site. When the two men motored into Port Alice to anchor for the night, Dau saw a black animal on the beach.

"His father said, 'That's a wolf.' But Kevin said, 'No, that's Brick,' " Pugh said. "And he got out on the bow and started calling, 'Brick! Brick!'

Brick's survival alone on the thick, jungly island during harsh winter weather has amazed and moved local people, Pugh said.

"It's such a rural area, your friends are really your family out here, and Greg was family to all of us," he said. "Losing him, it's hard to explain to people how we really felt. He was such a unique person. It's hard to explain when you're having to search for him and you don't know what you're going to find. Then, after a month, to find Brick — it brings back a whole slew of feelings."

- Associated Press News Story 2/25/04

It's a long post, but I thought you folks might enjoy it. I wonder what Brick's EDC included? <img src="images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

This city slicker wouldnt last 1 day in this scenario. Amazing!

.That's a great story, but there one other thing
I wish they had brought up in that article. I hope the authorities went back and thoroughly searched that island.

Avatar: I was thinking the very thing.

Chris

This brings back memories. I cruised that area and island once. If they found the survival suit the chances for survival are nil. <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I know you are probably right, but this story is too haunting to not mull it over.

Obviously, the dog managed to survive some degree of hypothermia. I imagine that the length of the fur might have been a factor: the dog was not weighed down, and the fur was not so dense (long) as to not be able to dry out fairly fast.

I think that prolonged immersion in water would have killed the dog. The boat must have been fairly close to the island when it went down. A search of the island might, at least, locate Clark's body.

Labradors inner coat is covered with oily secretion which in fact repel water and keep him warm. Also labradors originated in Portugal where they were used as working dogs by fishermen to untangle the nets. My lab would sit in the creek when there is 30 degrees and think nothing of it. They are working breed and water is their environment. Still this is a very sad story.

Matt

No "probably right" about it in this case. I agree with Chris on that point - without his exposure suit, this poor guy's life expectancy in that water was probably measured in minutes, certainly not more than an hour or so up there, in that ocean, and at that time of year. A sad story, sure, but yet another reminder that the sea will try very, very hard to kill you if you do not give her the respect she demands.