COOS BAY (AP) - The 140-foot yacht El Conquistador was in trouble the minute it entered the Port of Coos Bay under a Panamanian flag.

By law, foreign-flagged vessels must take a local pilot aboard when entering Oregon waters.

El Conquistador didn't.

Port officials told the ship's owners the ship must enroll in the Coos Bay Response Co-op, which ensures an oil spill response and a fire safety plan, plus an enrollment fee. That didn't happen, either.

Now, 17 months later, it remains under lock and key.

The Port can't move it, the owners can't board it, and the bills are piling up.

It is the $1 million remnant of a California dream.

"We don't want it there," says Martin Callery, the port's director of marketing and communications. "In the summer, we have high demand for that facility."

It began in November 2002 when a Californian, Philip Arthur Nickel, asked the port for a place to store the yacht. Nickel and his wife, Lee Keevil, had bought it in Canada and planned to renovate it for an eco-tourism business on Margarita Island, off the coast of Venezuela.

But first, the couple had to establish residency in that country, so in the meantime they registered the vessel in Panama.

Nickel and Keevil lived in Crescent City, Calif., but wanted a more protected place to leave the boat.

The port agreed to rent a spot for a cut rate of $1,500 per month for the winter, double that for the summer when a boat that size might normally be charged $5,000, Callery said.

"Nickel made three or four payments," Callery said. "Then he started getting behind."

Federal law doesn't allow local port officials to seize foreign vessels.

So in January, the U.S. Marshal's Service placed the boat under arrest and got a court default order last month. That should give the port possession of the El Conquistador sometime this summer, which means it can be auctioned.

The owners will get what's left after the port takes what it is owed plus attorneys' fees.

"We tried very hard to work with Mr. Nickel and his wife," Callery said. "We said 'Make a payment plan.' We have to be paid for the services we're providing."

Directory listings for the two show the line disconnected.

Susan Johnson, administrator of the Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots, said the ship's captain could face civil and criminal penalties if they could find him.

The port has received calls from several parties interested in buying the boat but there's a hitch.

Since it has foreign registry, it can't be used for business in the United States.

"If you want to buy it as a private yacht, go for it," Callery said. "But if you think this would make a good dinner cruise vessel for the Columbia River, that ain't gonna happen."