Attempts to rescue a hi-tech anti-whaling boat after if collided with a Japanese ship earlier this week have failed.
The wrecked Ady Gil superboat, which cost around a million euros, sank 2,500 miles south of Tasmania on Friday.
Both New Zealand and Australia have launched investigations into the dramatic collision between the boat and the Japanese ship. The futuristic trimaran went down off Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay.
The Japanese authorities are putting the blame squarely at the feet of the anti-whaling ship, saying it "suddenly emerged abnormally close to" the security boat Shonan Maru 2, part of the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctic waters. They say the whaling ships had been under "continuous attack" from the Ady Gil and another vessel operated by the Sea Shepherd group prior to the collision.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, whose flagship sails under a Dutch flag, is a small but militant environmentalist group which specialises in "direct action" to halt marine environmental destruction.
Direct action is a euphemism for blatant aggression, according to the Japanese Fisheries Agency, which says "These acts of sabotage that threaten our country's whaling ships and crew were extremely dangerous... It is totally unforgivable."
Powerboat
The damaged craft, a carbon-and-kevlar trimaran which smashed the round-the-world record for a powerboat in 2008 under its former name, Earthrace, is extremely fast and difficult to spot on radar screens.
The Tokyo government has lodged a "stern" complaint with New Zealand, where the protest boat is registered, demanding not to let any such incident happen again.
The crew of the anti-whaling ship maintain that it lay still when it was rammed by the Japanese vessel and sliced in two. The damage is substantial and the vessel may be beyond repair.
"The central hull is flooded. The nose of the vessel, the front four-and-a-half metres has sunk," according to Locky Maclean, first mate of the vessel. He added that another anti-whaling ship had tried and failed to tow the two-million-US-dollar craft from the area.
The activists now hope a nearby French research vessel carrying a crane may be able to rescue the craft. They remained determined to pursue the Japanese fleet, which has already left the area.
Probe
In the wake of the incident, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced an investigation and said his country had responsibility for the vessel. He added that he'd be taking the matter up with Japan.
Announcing a separate probe, Australian deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Canberra reserves the right to take international legal action if diplomacy with Japanese officials fails. She warned that evidence has already been collected to launch such action.
Ms Gillard said the vessel's crew was made up of one Dutch national and five New Zealand nationals, one of whom has dual Australian-New Zealand citizenship.
Peaceful protest
Trying to present a balanced position, the Australian deputy prime minister told reporters that "We are strenuously opposed to whaling and strenuously opposed to violence at sea. We believe in the right to protest, but we believe in the right to peaceful protest."
Meanwhile, Sea Shepherd's captain Paul Watson shrugged off the loss of the vessel as the fall-out of the "war" on whaling. "It handicaps us, it's a two-million-dollar hit on our organisation, but this is a war," Captain Watson said defiantly.
"It's a war to save the whales and we're going to have to take our hits as we go along. As far as I'm concerned these whales are worth far more than our ships."
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The sea has taken the revenge from the humans there- to save the whales...
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He says the Ady Gil was salvageable after the collision but that Watson ordered it to be sunk. Bethune said he and two other activists went aboard the Ady Gill and opened compartments and hatches to let in water, the stuff.co.nz news Web site reported.
Bethune told New Zealand's National Radio he believed Watson wanted the sinking to "garner sympathy with the public and to create better TV."
"Paul Watson was my admiral. He gave me an order and I carried it out," Bethune said. "I was ashamed of it at the time and I'm ashamed of it now."
"It was all done in secret. I was ordered not to tell any of the crew, not my family and especially not Ady Gil, the owner of the boat," Bethune said, referring to the U.S. businessman who funded the vessel.
Go Sea Shepard, Go!! You cant be worried about a tiny ship and its polluting the ocean to save precious whales!
There is one rather important fact about the perceived need for whaling which is never mentioned by any of the industry stakeholders or those who oppose them.
It goes this way – The only completely reliable lubricant for precision devices like hard drives, aircraft instruments, gyroscopes and the like is Whale Oil.
In other words those complaining about whaling are unfortunately using whale products too.
Go figure !
"The Japanese authorities are putting the blame squarely at the feet of the anti-whaling ship, saying it "suddenly emerged abnormally close to" the security boat Shonan Maru 2"
I call bullshit. Seen the show Whale Wars? If i remember correctly the Ady Gil ran out of fuel and was stuck in the water.
WOW....lot of hate in here.all this attention on whales, (quote)Japs,or was it mongols? or even dumb fat green peace leaders?..I mean really who cares if the boat ady gill cost 2 million and sits at the bottom of the sea..that 2 million could save a lot of people from loosing there homes.or if the japanese sunk there ship on purpose or not. i bet you drive a honda or toyota.maybe a JAP!! appliance..GET OVER IT BUY AMERICAN IF YOU CARE SO DAMN MUCH!!!!!!with all that is going on in this world...this is what you waste your time with if you dont like the show change the damn channel..if your a fan take it for what it's worth entertainment... if your you really care about these issue....GET OFF YOUR ASS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT>> AND I DONT MEAN BLOGGING...I personally think these guys SEA SHEPARDS are a joke but that's my opinion.but i dont hate them that takes to much of my time..and i dont really give a s@*t!!. why because IHAVE A LIFE!!!!!!
Look at this logically the Sea Shephards set out to defend something that they truly believe in... stopping the saughter of innocent and magnificent creatures... we could all take a page out of their books as humans do it on a daily bases... atleast they stand up for their beliefs... and are obviously willing to put their lifes on the line for it... and as far as the ady gil, all i can say is WOW!!! tell me how something that runs out of gas and is idoling in the water just "suddely emerges abnormally close" when 3 other vessels passed by them with no incedent... why was this one following so close to the ady that it was even had a chance tht it might hit it... deductive reasoning says that they aimed for the vessel with intentions of destroying it... look at videos from all 3 parties and u can clearly see that the japanese were at fault... keep up he fight guys.. you have my full support
Sink 'em all! to hell with the "green peace" whale activists. you are over and the minions that lap up your kool aid. your following an over weight bearded wandering do nothing that craves tv time and risks your safety and common sense. he plays to your impulsive 'do gooder spirit" playing you for a fool. draw a deep breath and think first before you jump on board.
Wow, your post had more to do with your issues then it dose with the Ady Gil.
So according you your view of the world, good leaders must be clean shaven and skinny? Well good that means people like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Carl Rove, and Dick Cheney are losers and Obama is the best thing since sliced bread. In case you haven’t noticed, most sea captains have beards. Did you see the captain of the Ady Gil, looks like a marine. If this bothers you so much, perhaps a career at Disneyland might be your calling, I hear men are not allowed to have beards there as well.
The Sea Sheppard is not part of Green Peace. But then your hate speech and “thought process” doesn’t have time for such things as facts. Perhaps it’s you who is being played by your impulsive personality by conservative talk radio or FAUX , I mean FOX News. I can tell you watch, it shows.
I suggest you grab some more flair and go find your stapler. Life on the Sea Sheppard is for Real Man and Women who will put their life on the line to save something special on this planet. Not, whiney hate filled, know it all internet trolls who sign their own hate posts as Anonymous.
Watson is a fool but at least they are trying
Can anyone translate what the cameraman is saying?
Also, at the start of this filmed event, the ship is not headed towards the Ady Gil whatsoever, it turns into it. As for 'suddenly emerging abnormally close to', is that what they call an excuse for running into someone they're filming? Truthfully this all sounds like the product of an army of Japanese lawyers created simply to give reasonable doubt and basically make any court have a real hard time making any decision that they fail to pay off. They're usually smarter than the Sea Shepherds but at least once every season they do something to make themselves the villain.
But for Japan it's all about the almighty dollar.. or whatever it is they use there. If you haven't yet seen the hit documentary 'The Cove' - basically Whale Wars but with dolphins and less idiotic people - its worth a watch!
Here you Go; To Any Mercenary, We will pay $1 Million US Dollars, After the job is complete,
To send the "Nisshin Maru" to the bottom of the sea!!!
The Sea Shepards
I tell you, Could these Sea shepards be any dumber?
Where did they find these numbskulls, floating on a life raft somewhere? Remember, TORA TORA TORA? That was supposed to mean, Launch the Prop Fowler? Instead they start throwing stink bombs?
Fail! Then Capt. Watson, says do you remember what TORA TORA TORA meant? Oh yeah, I forgot! Then they end up wrapping the line, a thousand times around a piece of ice? Then the Ady Gil, tries their new improved version, and they let it go along side the Maru, then they pick it back up, and this time, they really set it up with a technologically advanced release system, ha ha ha, then they couldn't release it!!! Then they're ideling next to the Maru, and at the last second, they floor it, (you can tell, by the wake) just as the Maru, is cutting to the right, and they get cut in half!!!
Them yellow Mongols, were laughing their asses off!! Oh, and don't forget the potato gun!!!
Look, you spent $2 mil, on a boat, that you trashed, You could have hired a smart mercenary for $1 mil, and I betcha, he would have at least, had one of them Whale Killer boats SUNK!!! Now wouldn't that have been a SCORE, for the Shepards? Instead, you sent $2 mil, to the bottom of the sea!!! Them KUSOS are still laughing, can't you hear them? Get some Serious merc's, not these Laurel & Hardy guys.
I SAY WE BOMB THESE STINKING YELLOW KUSO MONGOLS, AGAIN!!!
They didn't learn their lesson, the first time!!
Instead of spending 2 million, on the Ady Gil, the Shepards could have bought an older used SUB, restored it, aquired, or built some guided Torpedoes, then "suddenly emerge abnormally close to" every one of those Mongol KUSO Whaler ships, one at a time, and put every one of them, at the bottom of the sea, where they belong!!!!
!!!DIE JAPS DIE!!!
I'm sure the Japanese are not happy this happened (because it's going to cause them grief), but I've watched the show and while I'm glad the Sea Shepherds are down there doing SOMETHING they are lead by probably the biggest idiot to have sailed the seven seas. Paul Watson, outside of any organizing or PR that he may be great at, is not a captain. I watched when he rammed his ship into one of the whaling ships a few years ago and he not only put a gigantic hole in his ship, but I watched him jump away from the wheel and as the collision was happening he just stood there and let the ship skitter along the side of the other vessle. I've never heard of a captain letting go of the wheel in a bad situation. I've also seen him take a non-ice vessle into ice floes several times. Saving whales is fine, but not at the expense of your faithful army of volunteers. If his ship goes to the bottom he'll be just as guilty as David Koresh (WACO) or Jim Jones (Jonestown).
It looks to me like the Shonana Maru 2 was angling to bring its water cannon to bear on the Ady Gil when they crashed. I'd say it's the fault of the Japanese. Honestly, at the point of impact the Ady Gil had clearly stopped to idle while its crew tried to do what it could to hamper the bigger ship. In fact I'd wager the driver of the Ady Gil wasn't even at the wheel. Wouldn't have mattered otherwise because if someone had accelerated suddenly those men outside the boat, especially the guy on the roof, would have been thrown under the whaling ship instead of the bow.
No way man the Maru was making an aggressive right, at the beginning of the video you can see that there is a boat off the bow looks like the Steve Irwin and the fixed cables on the maru give a good indication on its heading/vector of an extreme overtaking course. Even if it was trolling in forward drive it wasnt near the speed of the maru. Think of when two boats hit each other at that angle they would split off on consistent vectors like a " > < " regardless of either crafts mass.
Keep up the fight Sea Shepherds.
If you watch the ady gil's wake it is obvious that they are idleing when the japanese boat approaches. If you continue to watch the video it becomes even more apparent that they in fact rammed the japanese boat because again if you look at its wake when the japanese boat is close those props are spinning and the wake increases which means that they (the Ady Gil) where in forward drive and in fact rammed the
Japanese boat.
so your telling me they suddenly emerged abnormally close to the ship but they had time to get out and stand on top of the ship and get hosed to death bull crap
Dogon shame dat boat could float fast. sink fast 2...:) What comes of foolishness from do gooders bent on justifying their lame battles against the man... didn't the captain have weapons on boards in violation of the do gooder ccde of conduct? PW fails yet again at exacting pay back from anyone but his foolish sponsors. PW is a crminal... have a gr8 day dare:)
What an absolute waste...You would think with all the loss of life the Japanses have had, and all the loss of life they have also caused that they'd wake up. Sea Shepard... keep it up... step it up..
Its a sad day, and I will make it my personal point to never purchase anything Japanese, nor will I ever visit Japan again. Sad as I had such fun there as a child.
What an absolute waste...You would think with all the loss of life the Japanses have had, and all the loss of life they have also caused that they'd wake up. Sea Shepard... keep it up... step it up..
Its a sad day, and I will make it my personal point to never purchase anything Japanese, nor will I ever visit Japan again. Sad as I had such fun there as a child.
What an absolute waste...You would think with all the loss of life the Japanses have had, and all the loss of life they have also caused that they'd wake up. Sea Shepard... keep it up... step it up..
What an absolute waste...You would think with all the loss of life the Japanses have had, and all the loss of life they have also caused that they'd wake up. Sea Shepard... keep it up... step it up..
quite sad new's that the vessel collided with shark.New Zealand and Australia have launched investigations into the dramatic collision between the boat and the Japanese ship which should be done.Bye vessel sinks .
mmmmmmm whale meat ...yum
I don't think blame can be put in solely on either captain there. It is pretty clear the Japanese ship made no effort whatsoever to avoid collision, if anything they made it more difficult for the Ady Gil to avoid collisioin through using the water cannon; However the Ady Gil clearly put itself in harms way, by parking itself only just off straight in front of the Japanese ship. To me, in that video, it looks as if the Japanese ship veered right towards the Ady Gil, but it's hard to be sure. Regardless, either ship could have easily avoided the collision.
I think the Dutch should drop the Sea Shepard registry like a hot potato. These morons harassed the whaling boat all day long and now they are crying because it got hit and sunk. Paul Watson now wants to attempt a "citizen's arrest" against the Maru's crew which will likely lead to bloodshed. Meanwhile Watson will be back on the Steve Irwin counting new donations while his volunteer crew gets shot. The Dutch government should at least tell the Sea Shepherd crew to stay at least one nautical mile away from the Japanese boats.
Oh, the ship sank? Do the whales know about it?
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