Unsinkable Gordon Gill Tugs at Their Heartstrings

Like the intractable cat that kept coming back, a boat has miraculously reappeared--four months after being lost in a raging North Pacific storm. The Gordon Gill vanished off the Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor when a tow line pulling the unmanned vessel snapped, allowing the 60-foot boat to be quickly swept away in the huge waves and strong winds. Searchers were unable to find a trace of the vessel, used for work in the oil industry and owned by Arctic Offshore Ltd. of Canada. Then, like a vision, the tugboat arrived back in Dutch Harbor, towed by a fishing boat that had spotted the tug 25 miles away. “It was in perfect shape after spending four months on the North Pacific,” said Coast Guard spokesman Mark Farmer. “And there’s some bad weather out there.” Irene Tetrault, who owns Arctic Offshore with her husband, Don, said he never gave up hope the boat would be recovered. “My husband is a seaman. He didn’t feel it had sunk.”

--A Machias, N.Y., couple were puzzled but not perturbed as to the purpose behind four glass vials that were part of an antique safe they had on display in their living room for eight years. But their peace of mind got a large jolt when they learned that the vials had been rigged to work as a booby trap and were filled with highly unstable explosives such as nitroglycerin. A serviceman who had recently done work on the safe owned by Joseph and Susan Patti was intrigued by the vials and, after some research, suspected their true role. Indeed, booby traps such as the one found in the Pattis’ safe were in keeping with the practices of local gangsters, said Sgt. Martin Wolinski of the Erie County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad.

--Former patrons at Beirut’s Commodore Hotel are sorely missing a Beethoven-whistling African gray parrot that for 10 years has served to warn guests of the deadly approach of incoming shells in fighting between rival militias. Rewards have been posted for Coco’s safe return, including a $500 reward from Mohammad Mehdi, secretary-general of the National Council on Islamic Affairs. In addition to imitating the incoming shells, Coco whistled the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the French national anthem. Mehdi said he last saw Coco while on a mission to Beirut to secure the release of foreign hostages. “We were caught up in the fighting and for two days had to hide in the basement of the Commodore. When we emerged, I saw the bird and it asked me in Arabic: ‘What’s happening?’ ” Mehdi said.