Whale wars new boat is sinking

[Boat44]

To my mind whaling in this day and age and whaling endangered species such as Iceland has done recently is just inexcusable as part of the human race.

If I had any money I know who I would be donating it to!

 

[Tommyrot]

Snooks' missing video?

This is from onboard the "Steve Irwin".

Thanks to a bit of cloud on the horizon, it looks clear that the SI turned to starboard hitting the Jap ship, the same way it looked from the Japanese point of view!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOWh6WX9PDs&feature=related

 

[snooks]

This is from onboard the "Steve Irwin".

Thanks to a bit of cloud on the horizon, it looks clear that the SI turned to starboard hitting the Jap ship, the same way it looked from the Japanese point of view!

Yup that was the one, sorry in my rush to leave the office, I forgot to paste the link

 

[VO5]

While all these embittered arguments rage about the rights and wrongs of whaling in this day and age the significance of the obvious is overlooked.

To put it plainly, mankind is destroying the environment.

When I was a child, my father used to point out to me schools of whales cavorting in the bay, here in Gibraltar.

All this is gone, never to come back.

It saddens me to think that children will grow up unable to enjoy nature as we knew it, as so much of it is being wilfully destroyed.

Even the dolphins in the bay and the straits are not full size anymore.

The fishing for tunny with nets has been given up by our neighbours up the coast as the catches, formerly running to thousands of fully grown tuna have diminished to such an extent that the activity is no longer viable.

Swordfish, those magnificent fencers of the seas are also diminmished round here.

However, the Great White is now in the Mediterranean. Two were caught in nets on the Italian coast not so long ago and the incident kept hushed.

All of it is very depressing.

 

[Sybarite]

I disagree with your analysis of the situation. The AG was lying either stopped or advancing very slowly well to the starboard of the Jap ship. In the second video you see the Jap ship make a sharp turn to starboard leaning over as it does so. They were clearly intent on ramming AG amidships. At the same time they were spraying AG with 2 heavy hoses obscuring their vision. When AG realized what they were doing they gathered way but not quickly enough to avoid the attack. You even see the Jap ship altering its position to follow AG so that it remained on a midship ramming course.

There is no comparability to SS ramming the Jap ship because these ships are both steel built whereas AG is lightweight composite and tiny compared to the Jap patrol boat. Luckily the boat hit the front of AG's port hull causing it to spin away from the ship and so lives were not lost - a miracle in the circumstances.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Sydney Morning Herald

 

[webcraft]

While all these embittered arguments rage about the rights and wrongs of whaling in this day and age the significance of the obvious is overlooked.

To put it plainly, mankind is destroying the environment.

When I was a child, my father used to point out to me schools of whales cavorting in the bay, here in Gibraltar.

All this is gone, never to come back.

It saddens me to think that children will grow up unable to enjoy nature as we knew it, as so much of it is being wilfully destroyed.

Even the dolphins in the bay and the straits are not full size anymore.

The fishing for tunny with nets has been given up by our neighbours up the coast as the catches, formerly running to thousands of fully grown tuna have diminished to such an extent that the activity is no longer viable.

Swordfish, those magnificent fencers of the seas are also diminmished round here.

However, the Great White is now in the Mediterranean. Two were caught in nets on the Italian coast not so long ago and the incident kept hushed.

All of it is very depressing.

Completely agree. Sea Shepherd and similar organisations are taking the actions they do because nobody else is getting off their arse to do anything about it.

More power to their elbow.

- W

 

[Sybarite]

yep

 

[snooks]

From the SSCS website "In an unprovoked attack captured on film"

Unprovoked?????? Hmmmm

Seems that the SSCS had sunk 10 whalers previously, so by my rough calculation its Whalers 1 SSCS 10.

I'd like to add that while I agree with what the SSCS are trying to do, but I believe their method of endangering lives at sea is wrong

 

[Twister_Ken]

"Seems that the SSCS had sunk 10 whalers previously"

Any chapter and verse? All I can find is a claim (not from Sea Shepherd) that they scuttled two Icelandic whalers whilst they were tied up in harbour.

 

[Sybarite]

I have regularly followed SS activities but I have never heard of them sinking a vessel. Paul Watson explained that in giving a glancing blow to ships they were hoping to carry away the gear that suspends the whales. I have seen many films of the SS ramming other boats but I have never seen them T-bone a boat the way the Shonan Maru tried to do to the Aidy Gil.

Paul Watson has himself been fired on by rifle fire. He was wearing a bullet proof vest and was able to recover the bullet.

I believe the "authorities" should be undertaking the role his playing. After all what use is there in passng a law if there is no provision for enforcing it and certain nations cynically flaunt it.

John

 

[nathanlee]

The little boat had engines idling until the last few seconds. I'd suggest the acceleration wasn't to ram the big boat (why?) but to try to get manoeuvrability to turn away.

And then towards the end it reverses. Why didn't they do that in the first place?

I'm not at all sorry for saying this, but they bloody well deserved it. They are reckless seamen, and that goes for the skipper of the bloody ship they have too.

In this case, the skipper simply wasn't on the ball. They know the stupid game they're playing, and if he didn't expect the jap ship to turn, then he's a moron. They are constantly dropping ropes in order to foul the stern gear of the jap boat. If you were the skipper of that ship, would you maintain a straight course and make it easy for them?


Besides common sense, (and colregs) suggest that if you're a little composite boat, you stay away from large, manoeuvring metal ships with a great deal of inertia.

 

[Sybarite]

"All I can find is a claim (not from Sea Shepherd) that they scuttled two Icelandic whalers whilst they were tied up in harbour. "

Following these allegations, Paul Watson went to Iceland and demanded to be charged with their sinking. He was not prosecuted.

John

 

[snooks]

"Seems that the SSCS had sunk 10 whalers previously"

Any chapter and verse? All I can find is a claim (not from Sea Shepherd) that they scuttled two Icelandic whalers whilst they were tied up in harbour.

"Watson counters this, saying his methods yield results and SSCS has sunk 10 whaling ships, with no injuries caused."

From The Guardian

 

[snooks]

I have regularly followed SS activities but I have never heard of them sinking a vessel. 8<snip>8

Paul Watson has himself been fired on by rifle fire. He was wearing a bullet proof vest and was able to recover the bullet.

You might want to read this then

As for the rifle fire...If you watch the video he seems unaware he was shot....I'd like to think that if someone shot me with a rifle, even with a bullet proof vest, I'd at least feel it.

When animals are shot with a rifle (seen it on TV, never done it myself) their whole body moves with the impact...Yet Cpt'n Paul doesn't seem to realise he's been shot?

Summut smells fishy to me and it's not the whales

Quite happy to bow down to someone with a greater ballistics knowledge than me, or someone who's been shot, but that's how a simpleton like me sees it

 

[Twister_Ken]

I once hit a rabbit on the ranges, with a .303 round. We couldn't find the rabbit afterwards, though there was a bit of fur blowing around.

 

[tim_ber]

sailors wear lifejackets AND bullet proof vests

Kind of puts a slant on the thread about wearing your lifejacket at sea.

Time to don your bullet proof vest.

Thank goodness he had the vest on (if it is all true of course)

I don't like whale hunting.

It is a real shame that lovely boat had its bow cut off.

Whatever the rights and wrongs I do admire people who act on their beliefs (without hurting anyone; Ghandi and Dalai Lama not religious fanatics / fundamentalists who hurt others- Live and let live seems fair enough)

I don't know if I'd have the guts to put my life on the line down South.

As for the bullet; very strange shape; there are all types of course and who knows what he was shot with - terrible if they did shoot at him.
A 7.62 from the old SLR would break your arm if you got hit (aswell as the ripping damage). Bit like radiation - big old alpha particle will do a lot of damage at close range, gamma will go right through you with less damage.

 

[nathanlee]

Just read a comment on the youtube vid, and I'm in agreement. If you look at the end of the vid you can see the wake from the ship, and they fairly clearly seem to have been making a hard turn to port to avoid a collision.

In that case.

Big publicity stunt fail.

 

[alistairi]

Looks to me like the Japanese were trying to turn behind, rather than aim at, the Ady Gil.

Whoever's to blame this is great publicity for the Sea Shepherd organisation

 

[pestilence]

claims that sea shephred are pro-violence

I'm pretty sure Sea Shepherd are committed to non-violent direct action - violence being deliberate malicious harm inflicted on another person - some people conflate property damage with violence so worth being clear.
Protesting by putting yr body in harms way only works here through the Colregs?
It's an international PR battle and Sea Shepherd will always have the upper hand unless they start hurting people.