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Down Under
Anti-whalers vow 'no surrender' as superboat sinks
2010-01-08
SYDNEY -- Defiant anti-whaling activists on Friday vowed to fight on after their high-tech superboat sank in Antarctic seas following a collision with a Japanese ship.
That's one ...
Peter Hammarstedt, first officer of the Sea Shepherd group's "Bob Barker" ship, said the celebrated "Ady Gil" was abandoned in the Southern Ocean after a tow line snapped. "At this point unfortunately the Ady Gil is on the bottom of the Southern Ocean," he told AFP.
Where, while it will not form the vasis of a new coral reef, it will provide shelter for a large variety of fish, so some good has come of it. Not to mention the fun future underwater archeologists will have trying to figure out how it came to be there.
"It leaves us with no other option but to re-take up the pursuit of the whaling fleet," Hammarstedt said. "We have no intention of backing down. We will never surrender."
Who is asking them to surrender? We just want them to act completely unlike spoilt teenagers.
Same thing.
The futuristic trimaran, which held the round-the-world record, had several metres (yards) of its front end sheared off in the collision with a Japanese security vessel on Wednesday. Footage of the incident showed the "Shonan Maru 2" ploughing across the New Zealand-registered Ady Gil's bow and firing water cannon while its crew dived for safety.

Hammarstedt said the powerboat, bankrolled by Hollywood businessman Ady Gil, was being towed to an Antarctic port when the line broke overnight.

"Last time we saw the Ady Gil, the entire engine room was fully submerged in water as well as the fuel tanks," he said. "It was going down pretty quickly. Captain Pete Bethune estimated two to three hours before being fully submerged. At that point we decided to take up the hunt for the whaling fleet again."

New Zealand and Australian authorities are investigating the incident, while Japan lodged a strong protest with the Wellington government. Both the whalers and the protesters blame each other for the crash.

After abandoning the trimaran, the "Bob Barker", financed by a former US talk show host, resumed its pursuit of the Japanese fleet along with the "Steve Irwin", another ship operated by the Sea Shepherd conservation group.

Sea Shepherd claims to have saved hundreds of whales by chasing the Japanese fleet over a six-year campaign backed by Hollywood A-listers including Sean Penn, Martin Sheen and Pierce Brosnan.
That's all I need to know to choose sides ...
The skirmishes have grown increasingly sophisticated with the activists deploying laser-like devices and stink bombs, and the Japanese fleet operating military-style acoustic weapons and water cannon.

Australia is also investigating claims that the whalers chartered flights to spy on the Sea Shepherd ships and harass them using the Shonan Maru 2 security vessel.
Posted by:Steve White

#14  Check out the second video in Tim Blair's post. Note the wake. The Ady Gil was clearly accelerating into the ship's path.

I do not approve of whale hunting, but I approve even less of jackassery on this scale.
Posted by: Angie Schultz   2010-01-08 20:40  

#13  Under the sea
Under the sea
Darling it's better
Crashing the whaler
Take it from me
On the surface they whale all day
Out of work we have time to play
While we devotin'
Full time protestin'
Under the sea
Posted by: BigEd   2010-01-08 17:34  

#12  . - We have written a letter in which we make it very clear that we do not appreciate such a misuse of the Norwegian flag, "said Bjorn Svenungsen communications at the Foreign Ministry told Aftenposten.no.

Jeeze Louise, what happened to the Viking spirit? Talk about neutering.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2010-01-08 17:12  

#11  An they're flying a false flag

The Norwegian flag flew from the Sea Shepherd ship, "Bob Barker" as the ship approached the Japanese whalers on Wednesday. Abuse of the flag is prohibited by law. PHOTO: REUTERS / The Institute of Cetacean Research

Foreign Ministry protests against the misuse of the flag
The use of flags at sea are strictly regulated, and the Norwegian Penal Code states that it is illegal to sail under false flags.

"Registrar of Ships as unjustified causes a Norwegian flag or other Norwegian nationality mark, or in Norwegian waters, leading some flag or nationality note that he is not entitled to be punished by fines or imprisonment for up to 1 year," said the Penal Code § 423
. - We have written a letter in which we make it very clear that we do not appreciate such a misuse of the Norwegian flag, "said Bjorn Svenungsen communications at the Foreign Ministry told Aftenposten.no.
Posted by: john frum   2010-01-08 16:02  

#10  and left evidence behind...

The Shonan Maru No.2 retrieved several lethal-force bowgun arrows
Posted by: john frum   2010-01-08 15:33  

#9  The SSCS left her to drift....

The abandoned Ady Gil still afloat
Posted by: john frum   2010-01-08 15:31  

#8  No insurance company in the world is stupid enough to pay off on this claim.

Especially after these morons basically admitted that they planned to put the boat in harm's way, and plan to continue.
Posted by: gorb   2010-01-08 13:48  

#7  An experimental prototype composite hull is not the vessel I would choose to play chicken with fishing vessels in high-latitude waters.
Posted by: Pstanley   2010-01-08 13:24  

#6  politics aside, I thought it was a pretty cool looking boat...
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2010-01-08 11:19  

#5  "Australia is also investigating claims that the whalers chartered flights to spy on the Sea Shepherd ships and harass them using the Shonan Maru 2 security vessel. "

WTF? It is Hollywood's criminal mercenaries who are breaking the law, not the Japanese whalers.

This is not for the whales, it is just another way the depraved gods of commercial pop-culture have of demonstrating that they have a different set of rules.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2010-01-08 11:03  

#4  backed by Hollywood A-listers including Sean Penn, Martin Sheen and Pierce Brosnan.

Members all of the Film Actors Guild.
Posted by: SteveS   2010-01-08 10:40  

#3  No insurance company in the world is stupid enough to pay off on this claim. And even if they were insured, that insurance company is going to have some pointed words to say to Lloyd's Registry.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2010-01-08 09:08  

#2  Whatever happened to, "The Captain goes down with his ship"?
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2010-01-08 07:35  

#1  I think the Burkina Faso Coast Guard has higher seamanship standards than these guys.
Posted by: Pstanley   2010-01-08 02:09  

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