The USS Zuni/USCGC Tamaroa, circa 1947-48.

The only surviving Navy ship from the invasion of Iwo Jima that was later transformed into the Coast Guard rescue cutter depicted in the movie “The Perfect Storm” is on the verge of being scrapped, according to maritime history buffs trying to save the vessel.

The Zuni Maritime Foundation in Virginia has been looking to raise $500,000 to put the 205-foot ship in dry dock so that its hull can be repaired, but fundraising efforts have fallen short. 

The vessel was bought by an unnamed benefactor in 1994 who had hoped to restore the ship and turn it into a museum.

Since then, a dedicated volunteer crew of former Navy sailors and Coast Guard members has restored the vessel’s interior and much of its exterior. But after leaks in the hull this spring the Coast Guard deemed it a hazard to navigation, meaning it can't be moved.

Ownership of the vessel is now being transferred to the head of a salvage yard, foundation officials told NBCNews.com.

The new owner, Tim Mullane, of the American Marine Group salvage operation in Norfolk, Va., has allowed the ship to be temporarily moored at his dock but has said fixing the ship’s hull may well cost twice the $500,000 goal of the foundation.

It remains unclear how long the historic vessel will be allowed to be moored at American Marine. 

"It’s hearbreaking," Tom Robinson, foundation director, told NBCNews.com. "Ten years of effort down the drain. The ship is ready to be scrapped."

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However, Harry Jaeger, operations chief for the foundation, told NBCNews.com he hasn’t given up hope.

Volunteers aboard the USS Zuni/USCGC Tamaroa in Virginia.

Jaeger, who has spent countless volunteer hours leading the restoration of the ship and just came back from Vallejo, Calif., to obtain World War II vintage pilot house controls for it, said Mullane has shown a personal interest in preserving the ship and even led efforts to plug the leak that threatened to sink it.  

"We’re trying to be optimistic when the new owner takes over," Jaeger said. "But business is business."

Jaeger agreed that Mullane may well be forced to scrap the vessel or sink it as an artificial reef. (Mullane was not immediately available for comment to NBCNews.com.)

The ship was known as the Zuni when it earned four battle stars for World War II service as an ocean salvage tug. "It rescued sailors at Iwo Jima and saved ships damaged by torpedoes," Jaeger said.

The Zuni was decommissioned by the Navy after the war in 1946, transferred to the Coast Guard and renamed the Tamaroa, the name of a fierce Native American tribe. The “Tam” was home-ported at Staten Island and Governors Island, N.Y., from 1946-1985 before being moved to New Castle, N.H.

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As a Coast Guard cutter, the ship carried rescuers on a daring mission in 1991 to aid three people from the sailboat Satori in 40-foot seas and 80-knot winds some 75 miles off Nantucket island during what was known as the “No Name Storm of Halloween,” according to a Coast Guard history of the ship. Ten minutes after that ordeal was finished, the Tamaroa was called to save Air National Guard crewmen whose plane was downed during a rescue of their own. That rescue earned the cutter and crew a commendation.

Author Sebastian Junger chronicled the drama of that day in his book “The Perfect Storm,” which later became a movie of the same name starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

The nonprofit Zuni Maritime Foundation, located in Richmond, Va., had hoped to turn the ship into a museum and tourist attraction that would teach visitors the history of the 69-year-old vessel. It had also expected to make the vessel available to Sea Cadets, Sea Scout and other groups of young sailors.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A hiker has died after falling into a river in a remote part of northern Alaska,  the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday. His companion was rescued by helicopter.

The Coast Guard did not release the identity or nationality of the victim, who slipped off a cliff in the Brooks Range on Wednesday night. The companion, Olaf Schooll of Norway, was rescued, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The two men had been trying to hike across the northern part of Alaska, from the Canadian border to the Bering Sea, the statement said.

The accident occurred at Atigun Gorge, a spot about 240 miles southeast of Barrow, it said.

Schooll used a satellite telephone to call for help, the statement said. A Coast Guard air crew found him, hoisted him into a helicopter and flew him to Barrow.

More Alaska coverage from NBC station KTUU in Anchorage

Crew members found his dead companion about a mile downstream in the Atigun River, but terrain and water conditions prevented the recovery of the man's body at that time, the Coast Guard said. Searchers were attempting on Thursday to recover the body.

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The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended a search for 21 people who abandoned ship after a reported explosion Monday on a yacht off the coast of central New Jersey, saying the incident was believed to be a hoax.

The FBI in New Jersey has opened an investigation to determine whether any federal laws were violated, according to NBCNewYork.com. It is being conducted jointly with the Coast Guard. 

The rescue mission was launched after authorities received an emergency radio transmission around 4:20 p.m. Monday from a boat identifying itself as Blind Date, according to a Coast Guard press release. The caller reported the yacht carrying 21 passengers, seven of whom were injured, sank about 17 nautical miles east of Sandy Hook, N.J., after an explosion destroyed the boat’s electronics and GPS. The caller said all passengers had made it on to life rafts.

The Coast Guard deployed two boat crews and four helicopters in Monday’s search. Response units from the New York City Police Department, Fire Department, the New Jersey State Police and the Nassau County Police Department were also on the scene.

Chip East/Reuters

CW3 Troy Loining of the U.S. Coast Guard speaks to journalists outside the gates of the Coast Guard station at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, Monday. The U.S. Coast Guard has found no debris or survivors from a reported explosion aboard Blind Date, a yacht 17.5 miles (28 km) off the New Jersey coast, raising the possibility that the incident could have been a hoax, spokesman Petty Officer Erik Swanson said on Monday.

Additionally, Commander Kenneth Pierro of Coast Guard Sector New York said that more than 200 first responders had assembled at mass casualty stations, and officials said several good Samaritans had assisted authorities in the lengthy search, reported NBCNewYork.com.

But after hours of searching, rescue crews found no sign of any distress in the water, and it became clear there was no explosion.

“We believe it was a hoax,” said Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Troy Loining. “We didn’t find anything.”

Making a false distress call is a felony, with a maximum penalty of five to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the cost of performing the search.

While no official cost estimates have been released, Coast Guard spokesperson Jetta Disco told msnbc.com that the price of covering the Coast Guard’s response in this rescue mission alone will be well over $100,000.

So far, no state or local agencies have received any missing person reports, according to NBCNewYork.com.

The Coast Guard and other state and local agencies responded last year to more than 60 suspected hoax calls in the northern Hudson River region, including one claiming a 33-foot sailboat was sinking, according to the Coast Guard press release. A 10-hour search costing almost $88,000 turned up no boaters, and an investigation was launched. No one has been prosecuted.  

“Sham sinkings, like bomb threats and other hoaxes, needlessly risk the lives of first responders and waste resources dedicated to keeping the public safe from harm," Rebekah Carmichael, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, told NBCNewYork.com's Jonathan Dienst. "We are working with the Coast Guard and our other law enforcement partners who are looking into this matter, and urge anyone with leads to contact the Coast Guard or the New Jersey FBI immediately.” 

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It's been six weeks since two men were shot to death inside a Coast Guard communications station in Kodiak, Alaska, and investigators still are saying very little except that they don’t believe islanders are in danger.

Some residents are left to wonder if a killer is roaming their archipelago about 250 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The FBI leads the investigation into the April 12 shooting deaths of Richard Belisle, 51, and Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins, 41.

No one has been named a suspect or person of interest in the case, Anchorage-based FBI Special Agent Eric Gonzales told msnbc.com.

FBI.gov

The FBI, investigating a double homicide at the Kodiak, Alaska, Coast Guard station, asked the public if anyone had seen this white 2002 Dodge Ram pick-up truck and a blue 2001 Honda CR-V.

“There is an expectation of solving this double-homicide,” Gonzales said. “That’s what we’re all striving for, but I can’t give you a timeline.”

Kodiak Police Chief T.C. Kamai told msnbc.com that residents need to be patient and confident that federal authorities will solve the case and answer questions the violence raised.

"People are anxious for some sort of resolution," Kamai said.

Kodiak, a city of 6,100 on the island that is home port to 770 comercial fishing vessels, has a relatively low violent crime rate so a double-homicide is "huge," he said.

However, "the town is safe" with no uptick in crime "leading up to or subsequent to" the murders, Kamai said.    

Three times, authorities have reached out to the public for help the investigation.

On April 20, the FBI asked if anyone had seen two vehicles, a white 2002 Dodge Ram pick-up truck and a blue 2001 Honda CR-V.

FBI.gov

The FBI asked the public if anyone had seen a this blue 2001 Honda CR-V and a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck.

Vehicles matching the descriptions belong to James and Nancy Wells of Bell Flats, a Kodiak Island town about 12 miles from downtown Kodiak, NBC station KTUU reported.

James Wells, a civilian rigger who worked alongside Belisle and Hopkins repairing antennas, told KTUU “It’s our policy not to talk to anybody.”

The FBI searched the couple’s property, KTUU said.

Gonzales said he could not comment if the cars involved belonged to Wells and his wife or if their home was searched.

KTUU said one witness told it the cars were seen at the parking lot of a Comfort Inn near the Coast Guard station. The motel’s guest list was subpoenaed by the FBI, KTUU said.

On May 2, the Coast Guard, working with the FBI, asked for volunteers to search the station beyond the crime scene.

Gonzales told msnbc.com he could not say if any items turned up by the 120 searchers had any value for the investigation.

Radio station KMXT at the time said the search did not produce any results, KTUU reported.

On May 15, the FBI asked to talk to anyone in Alaska who sold, traded, or otherwise transferred any of these .44 Magnum revolvers in the past year: Smith and Wesson Model 29, Smith and Wesson Model 629, or any Taurus model in that caliber.

Some residents around Kodiak take the investigation in stride. Others are wary.

“You’re just wondering, ‘Where are the answers? Is this guy still on the loose? Are we still safe in our home?’” Diane Descloux, a longtime Kodiak resident, told KTUU.

“You know it's a big wild place and things happen,” Kodiak resident Andrew Field told KTUU.

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HOUSTON - The Coast Guard searched Monday for six people reported missing after a fishing vessel started sinking in the Gulf of Mexico near Galveston, Texas.

The Coast Guard received a mayday call on Sunday afternoon from the captain, who reported the boat was taking on water. The captain said the six people aboard were abandoning ship and getting into an orange life raft.

Because of the poor quality of the radio transmission, the name of the vessel was difficult to make out. It sounded like either Scallywag or Skylark, Coast Guard officials said. The boat was described as a purple-and-blue-colored fishing vessel with a white stripe.

Multiple Coast Guard units responded, and on Monday were searching an area roughly the size of Delaware.

"The Coast Guard is expending all available resources to try and locate the six missing people," Elvie Damaso, a Coast Guard command center controller for Sector Houston-Galveston, said in a statement.

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North Coast Marine Mammal Center

Crews were able to untangle a gray whale that had gotten caught in crab pots in Humboldt Bay in California.

A second gray whale entangled in fishing gear along the California coast has been freed.

The latest whale was spotted Tuesday afternoon in Humboldt Bay — south of Eureka, Calif. — with crab pots hanging from its tail fluke.

The U.S. Coast Guard, along with members from Humboldt State University Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the North Coast Marine Mammal Center, spent hours chasing down the animal so they could untangle it.

They were successful in their joint effort Wednesday morning. The rescuers said the young small whale was actually tangled with a buoy and a fishing line as well as the crab pots.

The rescuers said they think the whale only suffered minor injuries. The teams are staying out in the water to make sure it safely gets back into the wild. 

Last month, a 40-ton gray whale was found tangled in fishing line attached to three buoys off the coast of Orange County.

A rescue attempt in Southern California was unsuccessful, until the whale was spotted by a fisherman more than a week later up near Bodega Bay. 

A crab fisherman and his crew used 12-foot bamboo poles with hooks to remove the lines. 

They had no idea of the the whale's plight and only learned that they had rescued an infamous creature after returning to dock and someone asked him about an extra buoy on the boat.

This story originally appeared on NBCBayArea.com. 

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An animal rights group's release of a video showing a goat's legs being removed with what appear to be tree trimmers has prompted the Coast Guard to defend the use of live animals in combat medical training.

The Coast Guard said it could not verify that the video posted on YouTube by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on Wednesday involved its personnel, The Associated Press reported. But the AP reported that Lt. Cmdr. Jamie C. Frederick, spokesman for the Atlantic area, wrote in an email that the Coast Guard does use "live tissue training using live animals."

The animals appear to be anesthetized in the video, which was purportedly shot in Virginia Beach, Va. In addition to the use of tree trimmers, instructors stab the animals with scalpels and pull out internal organs -- which a narrator and a PETA blog post say was done to simulate injuries. The blog post said that veterinarians who viewed the video said the animals' movements indicate that the goats may not have been adequately anesthetized. At one point, one of the men in video calls for more anesthesia.

PETA said the video was taken by a whistleblower and showed military instructors contracted by the Coast Guard. The faces of the participants are blurred.

Justin Goodman, PETA's associate director of lab investigations, told msnbc.com the group was able to verify the video's authenticity by checking the credentials of the person who leaked it and by cross-referencing the medical training company involved with government contracts.

Tens of thousands of people have responded to a plea on the group's website urging the Pentagon to stop the use of animals in medical trauma training, Goodman said.

"We're still waiting to get a response from the Coast Guard," Goodman said.

Other branches of the military use similar training on goats and pigs, the AP reported, to prepare medics and front-line troops for treating catastrophic injuries in the field of battle. The AP said the Pentagon declined to respond to a request for comment about the video.

"Animals used in trauma training are supported and monitored by well-trained, experienced veterinary staff to ensure that appropriate anesthesia and analgesia prevent them from experiencing pain or distress," Frederick wrote to the AP.

Graphic warning: Video in PETA blog post

He said the training has also proved invaluable in noncombat situations, such as when Coast Guard members were the first to respond to Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake, the AP reported.

But some medical professionals say the practice is cruel and unnecessary and have signed a letter, drafted by PETA, to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta seeking an end to the practice, the AP said.

"Learning how to apply a tourniquet on a severed goat's leg does not help prepare medical providers to treat an anatomically different human being wounded on the battlefield," Dr. Michael P. Murphy, an associate professor of surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves who served two tours of duty in Iraq, told the AP.

U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, a California Democrat, has introduced legislation, HR1417, to phase out use of live animals by the military in training. So far, he has 49 cosponsors. But he told the AP that he has faced opposition from the Defense Department.

 PETA advocates the use of humanlike simulators for military training, like the one shown in this YouTube video.

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Updated at 4:43 p.m. ET: FBI agents have been flown to Kodiak Island on Alaska’s south coast to try to find out who shot and killed two Coast Guard members inside a communications station.

The victims were found dead at their work areas inside the station on Thursday by another Coast Guard member. They were identified Friday as Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins, an electronics technician, and Richard Belisle, a civilian employee and retired Coast Guard chief petty officer.

"As an organization with roots in saving lives and a focus on protecting people, this tragic event has shocked us all," said Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, said in a statement."My thoughts and prayers are with the victim's families, their loved ones, and the entire Kodiak community."

There is no evidence to suggest the deaths are the result of a murder-suicide, the Coast Guard said. No arrests have been made and no suspects have been publicly identified.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Sara Francis said late Thursday that all the roughly 60 enlisted personnel and civilians working at the station had been accounted for, and officials believe a third person was involved in the shootings.

KTUU

Frame grab of Coast Guard communications station in Kodiak, Alaska.

Capt. Jesse Moore, commanding officer of the base on Kodiak, said the victims likely were shot soon after they arrived for work Thursday morning.

The station monitors radio traffic from ships and planes. It is equipped with security cameras, but it wasn’t yet known if they captured any evidence, Moore said, according to The Associated Press.

The FBI said agents flew to Kodiak from Anchorage, about 250 miles away. They are working with the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Alaska State Troopers and the Kodiak Police Department to investigate the shootings.

According to the AP, the shootings happened almost 11 years after another fatal shooting involving the Coast Guard on another Alaska island, St. Paul Island, which is about 660 miles west of the city of Kodiak.

A man killed a Coast Guard officer whom he believed was having an affair with his estranged wife, according to AP.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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