Sea Shepherd Ady Gil Mortally Hit By Japanese Whaling Ship

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by Michael dEstries January 6, 2010
Categories: Animals, Causes
Tags: , .

ady gil, sea shepherd, anti-whaling, whale wars

The Ady Gil is no more — and the Sea Shepherd are back down to two boats.

Paul Watson has confirmed that the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru #2 cut the high-tech $2 million Ady Gil in two, paralyzing her. He said the stealth boat was idling in waters near Commonwealth Bay when it was suddenly approached and rammed by the Japanese ship. “This seriously escalates the whole situation,” Watson told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“It cut eight feet off the front of the vessel. There is a big gaping hole, so it can’t go anywhere or it would fill up with water,” he said.

The crew of six have all been accounted for, Watson confirmed. Five are on the new ship MV Bob Barker, with one still on the Ady Gil. We imagine that guy to be Captain Pete Bethune, who designed and built the boat.

Obviously, there are a whole bunch of questions as how a boat as fast as the Ady Gil could be surprised — and not get the hell out of the way. But furthermore, the Japanese should be held accountable for ramming a much smaller vessel — and putting human lives in great danger in the process. This appears to have been a full-on collision — not some accidental sideswipe. They should be prepared for a great deal of international outrage with this one.

[UPDATE 1] Jeff Hansen, Australian director of the Sea Shepherd organisation, said the Ady Gil had come to a stop in front of the Shonan Maru 2 vessel.

“It was stationary at the time. It tried to back out of the way but the Shonan Maru 2 had it in its path and it cleaned it up. It’s still floating at the moment, but chances are it will take on water and sink. Mr Hansen said the crew of six were uninjured. “Everyone aboard is safe, we’ve managed to get everyone off and they’re ok. We have it all on film and we’re getting onto all the authorities at the moment.” [via Australian Herald Sun]

[UPDATE 2] The Japanese ships refused to acknowledge the May Day distress of the Ady Gil and used the incident to break away from the scene of the ramming. According to eyewitness Captain Chuck Swift on the Bob Barker, the attack happened while the vessels were dead in the water. The Shonan Maru No. 2 suddenly started up and deliberately rammed the Ady Gil ripping eight feet of the bow of the vessel completely off. According to Captain Swift, the vessel does not look like it will be saved. [via Sea Shepherd]

[UPDATE 3] The Sea Shepherd are now requesting that the Australian government send a naval vessel to restore the peace in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territory.

[UPDATE 4] A video has been added to Youtube showing the Ady Gil confronting the Nisshin Maru earlier today. The video was shot by an operator on the Japanese vessel. Spoiler: Doesn’t show much.

[UPDATE 6] The official Sea Shepherd account of the distress call has changed from the first release. It now reads “The Japanese ships initially refused to acknowledge the May Day distress of the Ady Gil, but ultimately did acknowledge the call. Despite acknowledging the call, they did not offer to assist the Ady Gil or the Bob Barker in any way.”

[UPDATE 7] We’ve added two videos of the impact here.

[UPDATE 8] A new video has surfaced from the Ady Gil showing her last moments before the collision and the whalers clear intent to cause harm. Watch it here.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →
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  • Hideyoshi Toyotomi

    The neutralisation of the Adi Gil is to be welcomed as a positive development in restoring peace and security to the high seas.

    However, it is highly unlikely that the Sea Shepherd account of events is reliable. As it is well known, they are proud liars.

    As the article points out, it is highly improbable that a vessel like the Adi Gil could be “surprised” and “rammed” by the Shonan Maru. It will be interesting to hear the official account of events from the ICR.

    In the meantime, I wish the Shonan Maru and the rest of the research team all the best in defending against the Sea Shepherd terrorists.

    • EARTHWARRIOR117

      F–K YOU.

      Ramming a ship that size in Antarctic waters amounts to nothing less than 6 counts of attempted MURDER!

      • Pete Smithfield

        Sailing a small vessel alongside a MUCH bigger vessel and not avoiding it with blatant disregard to Maritime law is putting human life at risk. Oh wait, whales are more important than human life i guess.

        You can plainly see the Ady Gil moving forward, almost asking to get rammed. Well, they got what they wanted.

        But really, what is the Sea Shepherd plan here? What are they doing besides wasting money and risking human life?

      • Xpace

        Do you honestly believe the Japanese whalers are blood-mongers and their sole purpose in life is for the extinction of whales? They’re just your average fishermen, with bigger boats and bigger gear hunting bigger fish for a living. They’re you and me, doing their jobs to support themselves and their families. The industry exists in Japan, because there’s a demand for it, simple as that.

        Seriously, harassing workers with stink bombs and trying to sabotage boats isn’t the answer to stop whaling, it just provokes further violence.

        And the fact that half the comments I read are that the “Japanese didn’t learn from WWII” or the “Japanese are barbaric” just proves how ignorant some of us are. It’s their culture to consume whales, like it has been in the western world in the past, except we found alternatives to whale oil, blubber and bone, while they can’t find alternatives to whale meat, obviously.

        Splashing red paint on celebrities wearing fur never proved anything, but spreading the good word that fur is a thing of the past worked much better, didn’t it?

      • straightedge

        AHAHAHAHA so you think one of the richest and most advanced nations on the planet continues whaling because they can’t find an alternative to whale meat? You’re stupid… and that’s sad.

    • Hideyoshi Toyotomi

      Please mind your language, sir.

      And attempted murder? Please. It’s called self defence. And no doubt the official account from the ICR will show the Adi Gil to have been damaged in the course of its illegal terrorist activity.

      And pray tell, where was your outrage all those times Sea Shepherd rammed Japanese ships in the Antarctic? Hmm?

      • EARTHWARRIOR117

        The Ady Gil was not engaged in aggressive action of any kind. The attack was totally unprovoked.

      • EARTHWARRIOR117

        The Shonan Maru is roughly 3 times the size of the Ady Gil. There is a big difference between the Steve Irwin ramming a murder vessel than a murder vessel ramming the Ady Gil.

      • Claire

        oh yeah, the ICR’s account of the events is so much more reliable. not. they think buteric acid (aka rotten butter) is harmful to humans if they get it on their skin. my orange juice i had this morning is more harmful than that. we’ll just have to wait for the (unedited) videos/picuters to be released. but i have a strange feeling that Sea Shepherd is, once again, telling the truth. and i like how the Japanese bitched an moaned about the Steve Irwin “ramming” their ship last year and yet they do so much worse to a vessel so much smaller than theirs. only cowards run away.

      • Damascha

        Selfdefense, hahahahahahaha, like i said, you are not normal. And eeeh, mind your language, i am trying but it’s very difficult, aspecialy to people like you and i can understand everyone who’s angry about this, the whalers are just killers and not only whales but people too. This was the second time they tried to kill some of the SS-crew, remember the attack on the helicopter, hmm?

        Running over a small vessel like that is pure atempted murder, times 6.

      • eddy

        Look…japan is whaling in a whale reserve!!!!! When are you finally gonna see that?? SS should sink every mother f….g boat the whaling fleet has. Reading your commments I can only assume that you are:

        1) just plainly ignorant and stupid
        2) getting paid very well for your nonsense!!

      • OpenEyes

        Unprovoked “attack”? Why do so many people seem to be blinded by the misguided intentions of the Sea Shepherds? The SS are pirates who destroy property and endanger lives in the name of their twisted vision of sealife preservation. The only reason why they haven’t been shutdown completely is because many governments are afraid of a public backlash by “freedom of whatever” protesters who’d jump on such an opportunity.

        Watch the video and look at the wake of both vessels. The Ady Gil visibly ACCELERATES towards the starboard bow of the Shonan Maru II, while the Maru’s wake shows that she was turning to port, trying to put distance between the two ships. The Ady Gil most likely tried to cross infront of the Maru’s bow, the pilot miscalculated, and rammed herself into the Japanese ship.

        For those of you claiming that the Ady Gil was not engaged in aggressive action, you should read more into the situation. She was carrying heavy lines to drop infront of the whalers, which would pass underneath the hull and foul the props, thus disabling the ships. Even if she hadn’t been engaged on ill intent, her proximity to the Shonan Maru was in violation of maritime law, and any court would place 100% blame on the Sea Shepherds for this collision.

      • NZer

        you are an idiot the collision happened on the port side of the Ady Gil which means that according to the maritime law the Ady Gil has the right of way and therefor it is the whalers fault that the collisions happened. The Ady Gil had the engines in neutral o how was it moving in the was it started its engines to try and move out of the way. Also i didn’t know that rotten butten was poisonous or could be used for terrorist activities lmao.

      • SCUBA Stew

        F–k You Hide “Idiot” Yoshi

    • Damascha

      You are not normal, that’s all i want to say to you, just as crazy as the whalers.

    • Stephanie

      Wow. How sad that you think an act like this will restore peace!
      And how do you percieve that the murder innocent whales, in their
      sanctuary no less,is a peaceful venture?????
      Long live organisations like Sea Shepherd, who appear to be the only
      one with enough courage to take on the ruthless and corrupt illegal
      Whalers, and the government of Japan who brings shame to the beautiful
      land and peoples of Japan.

    • Defiant

      And how are things in the Yakuza these days? You are being paid to write comments defending poaching, and you have the nerve to call anybody else a liar?

    • Eddy

      You received your pay check from the japanese whaling thugs yet? “Peace in the ocean”…my but yeh!!! Get your whaling thugs out of there and peace will be restored instantly!!

    • wHaLe LoVeR

      well first of all, by your name I can tell you are asian and obviousely support the whalers. But dont you realise that they are killing whales and lying about it???? seriously, they just go and ram the good guys (sea shepherds) and then say that its not their fault and that THEY are the terrorists. You rock sea shepherds!!!!!!

    • Go Japs!

      This publicity stunt by these econuts nearly got the 6 of them killed. After the cut off one of the Jap ships last narrowly having the back end of the Steve Irwin knocked off by cutting too close in front of one of the Jap ship, one would think they would have learned something. Those large ships dont stop on a dime, purposely blocking another ship, particularly a much larger one, is foolish and dangerous. These econuts should be sent to prison for using projectile launchers and risking a catastrophe. At least their $2 million Batman boat was totalled. One less Pirate Ship on the high seas. They only started engaging in stunts like this when they became pseudo reality TV stars.

    • DOCTOR DETROIT

      I understand that the crew of the shepard does instigate things to some extent. BUT and this is a BIG BUT, the fishing vessel made a CLEAR TO THE EYE TURN towards the “ADY” vessel! The fishing vessel my have tohught that the ADY would respond to the treat and with it’s “speed” move. Only after the helms man KNEW he had hit the ADY did he turn away. I both video’s I watched, one from afar and the other on board u can see the vessel turn! As a matter of fact you can see the person holding the camera on board the japanesse fishing vessel even jerks to each side as the ship turns into and then way from the ADY collision! Im not the sort to even get involved in this sort of thing but it does upset me about the whaling and this NON accident. My thought is that if they want to gear up this thing, give a call to nautilis, lets put together a sub and sink these bastards. let them try and video tape that! I’d love to see a torpedo hit one of these research vessels….. We can say what happened? What a sub? Never saw it….. Gotta be a sub in some surplus yard somewhere in this world, heel you find it, give me a call, I come running…

      D.D.

    • Phillp

      The Sea Shepherds need to start using Captain Stan’s (from South Park) tactics against the thugs from the Empire of Japan.

    • Linda Kemp

      Are you for real? Even the Japanese government has stopped the charade of calling the slaughter of whales scientific research!! The Nishan Maru is a factory ship. It processess meat – from beings far more intelligent than you! And while I’m here – can I point out – in case you didn’t know – Japan is a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty – the laws of which it breaks without regard.

    • johnnyonspot

      I watched the video and it is very clear that the whaling vessel deliberately rammed the smaller boat. I boat sitting in the water DIW has no obligation under the COLREGS to get out of the way of an approaching vessel in the open sea. So take your pro-whaling propaganda and shove it before we melt a few more of your cities like we did in WWII.

    • blackdeath

      lets hire some somali pitates to hijack the japanese boats. then we can watch the japanese bodies sink into the water when they are cut-in-2 instead of the ady gil.

      • Jennifer

        The criminals from the SS are the pirates. They fly a pirate flag, and do not follow international sailing laws. They purposefully caused this accident as a stunt for this cause celebre and now are whining and raising a stink about it. To gain more publicity. Have you ever seen their show Whale Wars? There are very few experienced sailors on their crew. Its a bunch of post grad enviro nuts who think it would be “like totally awesome” to go save some whales. They are going about it in the wrong manner. While this is a cause I would have supported, I have lost all respect for these people and their organization

    • Mike

      Look, I don’t care what their cause was, when you fly a pirate flag and drive up to other boats throwing grenades, you gotta expect a response. These Sea Shepherd knuckleheads are NOT an authority and took to this like it was some kind of game. Well, they discovered the immortal lesson of picking a fight with somebody bigger (and stupidly did so WAY out in the ocean.) Frankly, if I saw a ship coming at mine with a pirate flag, chucking grenades or whatever, I’d start shooting. Gotta side with the Japs on this one despite my dislike for whaling.

    • Dave

      I hate to say this, but the crew of the Ady Gil and Sea Shepherd deserve what they got here. LOOK AT THE VIDEO. Prior to the collision, the ADY gil is clear of the whaler, and idling, but just a moment before impact, the Ady kicks into gear and zips under the bow of the waler, making a collision unavoidable.

      You can see this by looking ar their wake… it’s all undisturbed blue water until they kick it into gear and then it’s all whitewash.

      Ships as large as the whaler don’t turn or stop easily… think of it as trying to stop a fully loaded 18 wheeler going 120km per hour.

      Furthermore, the Ady Gil was equpiied with, and useing at the time, a laser device that temporarily BLINDS people. These devices are EXTREMLY effective and blanket large areas. It is entirely possible the captain of the whaler was blinded by the Ady and unable to see as well.

      I am no fan of whaling, but it is blatently obvious to anybody with any maritime knowlege that the captain of the Ady Gil is guilty of GROSS negligence and stupidly put his crew in possibly mortal danger. The collision is his fault, not the whalers.

      Hopefully those clowns at Sea Shepard will learn from this and adopt safer methods before they kill someone. The hars reality of the situation is that Sea Shepherd will not stop Japanese Whaling. International pressure will, and them killing themselves will simply be a waste of human life.

      • Doug

        Gotta Agree with you here Dave. They are nothing but terrorists. I don’t care for whaling either but those folks are nuts….

    • Mike

      You are as bad as the murdering sob in the whaling fleet. Your desire to push a species to extinction is sickening The japanese are liars and there is video footage to show that baby whales are being killed for what so you can gulp down another bite of whale blubber.

      It all comes down to money, they are whaling in a reserve to protect a species you are obviously totally uneducated or totally brain washed by your whaling industry.

      You and your country will be the first to cry when there are no more whales in the ocean look at all the other mammals on the planet that are extinct or near extinction due to people like you.

      It is sick

    • SCUBA Stew

      I have read ALL of the comments left by everyone thus far. I can agree with some and disagree with others. Unfortunately with a global economy boycotting Japanese products would hurt too many innocent people. So I say this… Lets NUKE the land of the rising sun. We will give all those who want time to get out, unlike the boat that was sunk. Once they have left (and don’t think about coming to America). We can finish what we started in 1947. Then we can make a huge Disney Land out of the whole place. Good now I sounded just as stupid as that little f–ker Hide “Idiot” Oshi!!! Hide “Idiot” you are a tool not of another persons, just a tool in every sense of the word. May I have address so I can send you an Ed Hardey T-Shirt? Keep up the good fight SS.

      • bob

        And pray tell what did your country start in 1947 Sir History Buff?

        Did you use your school books for anything else besides being able to sit high enough at grandma’s?

  • Cecil Stockton

    Hideyoshi, there are a couple points I would like to make, if I may.

    First, it’s ADY Gil, not ADI Gil.

    Second, cheer away at the destruction of another ship on high seas and for your countrymen who have spit upon the time honored law of the sea by sailing away from a ship in distress. I believe you and your nation will find it an difficult task to claim “Honor” in the face of today’s shameful events. Further, know this….my contribution to the Sea Shepherd Society will now be doubled and my support for them as well as my hopes for the end of the barbarism your nation practices is now boundless. And I believe you will find that I am not alone and that you now will reap the whirlwind of international outrage. Get ready.

    Third, hell will freeze over before another Japanese product enters through the door of my home.

    • EARTHWARRIOR117

      Amen. I think naval action is warranted at this point. This shit’s about to get serious.

      • Cecil Stockton

        Indeed. It is now a true war, but not one that will be fought on any battlefield, but in the courts of law and of international opinion.

        History repeats itself.

        “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping tiger.” Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, December 7, 1941

        Hideyoshi would do well to study Adm. Yamamoto, an honorable man who knew the hearts and minds of the western world. And feared them.

      • AC

        @Cecil
        “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping tiger.” Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, December 7, 1941

        Sheesh. It’s “Sleeping Giant”.

        Quoting incorrect history as a cornerstone to a conversation pretty much ends anyone taking your participation seriously.

        Especially when so much of your post puts weight on a quote from 2 Hollywood films. Yamamoto may never have actually uttered those words, yet you quote dates as fact.

        Stick to the movies mate.

    • Damascha

      Thumbs up!!!

    • Stacy Marie

      Amen Cecil!!!! The Japanese and their tradition of slaughtering defenseless animals for “research” is beyond barbaric. They sicken me beyond words. God Bless the Sea Shepherd and it’s supporters!!

      “All that is needed for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

      • bob

        “If you don’t know an answer, fact or statistic make one up on the spot” Paul Watson

        But hey some of you just go on blindly following this man, why?

    • Ghazali Mohammed

      Cecil!!!! We honestly need more people like you today.
      It is people like you who inspire me!! Wow!! just Wow!!
      Best of luck in all you do, and please keep up the good work!

      Cheers for Cecil!!

    • eddy

      CECI!!!!! I fully agree with you. I just made an extra donation to SS – although I made one last week. I will surely check anything I will purchase (as good as one can)to make sure it has no japanese origin and will inform all I know about this. The whalers are digging their own grave!!!! Just keep in mind that David won from Goliath…Goliath made a HUGE mistake today. Hallelujah!!!

  • boycott

    This is a call to everyone that is enraged with this current event. We should organize a total boycott of any product, as much as we can, coming from Japan. We should stop buying Japanese product until the government of Japan stop whaling or the whaling fleet goes underwater.

    • Cecil Stockton

      I’m already on board. I, more than many here, know Japan. I lived in Sasebo for two years when I was just a lad. I’ve loved her and her people, now I feel shame for having done so.

      The horror of one photograph, a photograph of a mother whale and her calf being hauled aboard a Japanese ship while blood streamed from their bodies is now what I feel when I think of Japan. And I will never feel the same for a land I once called my adopted home.

  • Hideyoshi Toyotomi

    Cecil, Ady it is. Or was. Point noted.

    Secondly, I do not cheer the destruction of vessels on the high seas. Rather, I cheer the neutralisation of the threat to peace and security on the high seas posed by the Ady Gil. It was engaged in offensive and criminal action against civilian vessels. The tremendous danger posed by those terrorists is now reduced, and this I applaud. As should all law abiding and peaceful people.

    And by increasing your donation to this terror group, you are falling for the clever marketing of Sea Shepherd. It carries out these stunts and fans anti-Japanese sentiment because this brings in the donations from people like you. Notice how Sea Shepherd basically ignores the Scandinavian whale hunts? That’s because there’s no money or ratings in it. You should think very carefully about the bigger picture before you send your hard earned to these dangerous fanatics.

    As for not buying Japanese products, that is your decision to make. However, as your country has demonstrated it is unable to manufacture goods of any respectable quality, I would again urge you to consider your position carefully before proceeding.

    • Cecil Stockton

      “However, as your country has demonstrated it is unable to manufacture goods of any respectable quality, I would again urge you to consider your position carefully before proceeding.”

      I was of the opinion that you were an intelligent and fair man, one who would be capable of defending your position and views without insult. I see I was incorrect. Since you have opened the doors to petty snipes I wish to respond with my own.

      We whipped your ass in WWII. The equipment we constructed then seemed to be up to the task. And your country severely underestimated the determination of the Western World, an error you insist on repeating.

      • UglyAmerican

        Cecil,
        As an American I am offended by your condescending tone and disingenuous compliments. You may want to consider a sincere apology.

    • Cecil Stockton

      And with that, Hideyoshi-san, I’m done. I personally wish you no ill will, nor do I have any against the people of Japan. I do wish for you the wisdom to understand the nature of the reactions you will now see coming towards your island from the peoples of the civilised world.

      And I apologize for letting my feelings get the best of me and for making the comment about us kicking your ass.

      Still…..we did it, ya know.

      Oyasuminasai.

    • Boycott

      I have been considering this position to boycott Japanese product long time ago, but now I am acting on it due to this development. Clearly the captain and crew of the shonan maru #2 has no regards for life, and this is a security vessel from the Japanese Government; therefore the Japanese Government has no regards for life.

      So I hope that everyone reading this will consider this boycott as soon as possible. Pass this knowledge around and if someone wants to start a webpage regarding this campaign, please do.

      As far as I am concerned, products made by USA was of best quality until cheap low quality materials from other international countries came about.

    • Oden

      Typical Japanese sneak attack just like Peral Harbor, Hideyoshi Toyotomi you need to get a life instead of praising the actions of the Murdering SCUM who kill whales you make me sick you uncivilised barbarian.

      • Paul

        you my friend. are an idiot.

    • Stacy Marie

      Dear “Hideous”,

      You speak in a civilized way, but your sentiments are violent and barbaric. Your countrymen, who practice and support this insanity, are evil.

    • Mark

      What is it with the Japanese culture and total dis-regard for life, both human and animal, just look up “Unit 731″ on Wikipedia. Unit 731 was also justified as being for research purposes, don’t think that makes much of a difference though. The international community has a duty to put an end to the immoral whale hunt, and to enforce the ban with force if necessary. Citizens may assist by not purchasing Jap Crap. South Korea produces similar products, just look at Samsung, Daewoo, Hundai.

    • Linda Kemp

      I would like to point out that Sea Shepherd is not and never has been anti Japanese. They have Japanese assistance, have had Japanese crew – and you need to get a reality check and do your homework in a less biased database! I have collected on stalls for Sea Shepherd – and have had the more enlightened people of your country come and give me money whilst apologising for what your WHALERS (not scientists)do!

  • Magaptera Guardian

    Bless her, I loved the Ady Gil, that’s one badass ship. I hope they get it repaired, I hope it’s ABLE to be repaired. Endangering peoples lives like that, disgusting. This is going to become one serious national issue, damn the Whalers for giving my people’s names even worse credit, P.O.S bastards.

    • Doug

      It’s gone bye bye. More yummy bio-diesel for the whales.

  • Claire

    5 bucks says that Hideyoshi is one of the people that the ICR employs to search the blogs,etc. to promote their BS. either that or he’s been brainwashed (or both). :)

    GO SEA SHEPHERD!!! and LONG LIVE THE ADY GIL!!!

    • Magaptera Guardian

      *Dishes out a $5 bill* I saw your comment and cracked up, I think I’ll have a poke at that. XD Money’s on him being both, and even if he says he’s not, he’s already given good example he’s a liar….

    • straightedge

      HAHAHAHA you’re right, it’s probably Glenn Inwood himself. What a dickeahd! He didn’t search very far for a fake name. He chose one of the most famous names in Japanese history.

      “Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) – One of the most remarkable men in Japanese history, he was born a peasant and yet rose to finally end the Sengoku Period.”

      All your points are mute. And SHUTUP about the ICR… No one cares what they have to say, everyone knows they have no integrity. They’ve had 23 years to get it right.

      You need a new career, rookie.

  • Damien

    As a Kiwi, this is an act of war against us, I feel. You Japanese really didn’t learn from WW2 did you?

    All I can say is here in NZ the phones among friends and family have been going mad. We are mad as hell and you Japanese whalers picked the wrong people.

    My grandfather fought against you in the Pacific and now we will fight you wherever you go with diplomacy, money and activism.

    And to think, not one of my friends or family cared about the Sea Shepherd or whaling… but now… now you’ve made an enemy.

    Cowards.

    • AC

      Easy Tiger, I’m a Kiwi and phones haven’t been running that hot.

      Sure, 99% of the population thinks the whaling fleet is a complete joke and infringement on our territory, but you forget that we are also a very water-going nation.

      Most of the discussions I’ve had about this have been with vessel skippers (large and small), and all conversations end pretty quickly in the same fashion:

      “Ady Gil crew = Idiots”.

      Not taking anything away from the reason for them being there in the first place, nor giving ICR the thumbs up. But in no way does this event shed new resentment on the Japs that wasn’t already there (in 100% of the kiwis I’ve talked to).

      In fact this event has had the opposite effect, and SS has lost more respect in NZ from what I’ve seen, heard and read so far.

      • Doug

        Finally, reason. Thanx….

    • pete

      im a kiwi too, and quite frankly, my phone is not running hot, but i do talk to my friends down here at the wharf as we head out fishing and the 100% feeling is – what a bunch of tossers.

      I also support and contribute to ending whaling, so its a subject that i feel strongly about.

      However as part of a maritime nation of some standing, my fellow New Zealanders on this ADI Gil are completely in the wrong from a Maritime point of view and i just shake my head at there stupidity.

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  • http://southernfriedscience.com SouthernFriedScientist

    Video of the collision is up:

    http://southernfriedscience.com/2010/01/06/video-of-the-ady-gil-collision/

    with an assessment by one vaguely qualified mariner. Spoiler alert – this anti-sea shepherd blogger thinks the Japanese are at fault.

    • UglyAmerican

      I worked on a 4200 gross ton, Bahamas flagged vessel as a mate for about 11 years. If you look at the last few frames of the video you will notice that the wake of the Japanese vessel indicates that the ship made a turn to the port prior to the collision. Assuming the “Southern Fried Scientist” is correct in his assessment that the Ady Gil engaged her engines, it would appear to me that the Ady Gil was at fault in this incident.

      I really don’t have a horse in this race. I’m not a fan of whaling, however there are no binding treaties in place disallowing it. Most significantly, the Sea Shepherds have a history of engaging in unsafe maritime practices including what could loosely be construed as acts of piracy. (Note: Pirates by definition do not sail under the flag of any country. Since the Sea Shepherd vessels all fly under national flags, they are not pirates).

      As a former professional mariner I just hope that everybody gets home safely. There are much more appropriate ways of dealing with the issue of whaling than engaging in dangerous acts in some of the most treacherous waters on the planet.

  • Jimbo

    GO JAPAN!! Good effort. You nearly managed to rid us of another 6 smelly hippie activists. Better luck next time.

    • Doug

      Here, Here. Is it 4:20 yet?

  • Richard
  • Damascha
    • georgina0912

      Damascha, thanks so much for posting the video. That is some impressive footage, and you can clearly see the Japanese whaler at full speed when it rams Ady Gil. I am very surprised there were no fatalities.

      I echo the sentiments of people above, starting NOW i am boycotting all Japanese products (not that i buy much Japanese stuff anyway, the stuff i buy is animal-cruelty-free AND made in America). I did that with Canadian products so i know what i am up for.

      As far as who is at fault, i am just thinking…who and why in their right mind would ram a vessel that is considerably smaller and not think about consequences before taking action?

      I hope and pray that the Ady Gil crew will be fine, and that the murderous actions of the Japanese will be brought to light so the international community can observe and make their own conclusions. They cannot just keep murdering protected-by-law, living creatures and get away with it.

    • AC

      Since we’re all open minded and non biased individuals, let’s watch a video of the crash from the Maru shall we?

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dXCR9LX-Kc&feature=related

      Pay particular attention to the stern wash behind the Ady.

  • Damascha

    On the video i put here, above this one, you can see it from the front of the Jap. Vessel.

  • Frumious

    Judge for yourself:

    The Japanese 25kph Shonan Maru 2 takes down Sea Shepherd’s new 72kph Ady Gil. See the video at:

    http://southernfriedscience.com/2010/01/06/video-of-the-ady-gil-collision/

    The video, taken from the Maru 2, shows the Ady Gil quiet in the water ahead and off the starboard of the Maru 2. The Maru 2, moving forward at about 15 knots, slowly arcs towards the Ady Gil. It looks like the Maru 2 would have come harassingly close but not hit the Ady Gil. But at the last moment before the Maru 2 passes harmlessly, the Ady Gil guns its engines and surges forward, right into the path of the Maru 2! Suicide! The Maru 2 shears off the point of the Ady Gil.

    It is a wonder no one was badly injured or worse. Both parties clearly share blame here; the Maru 2 for its aggressive navigation and the Ady Gil for suicidal endangerment of its crew.

    Absolute craziness.

  • howdydoody

    @SouthernFriedScientist Video has been pulled but I did get to see it earlier.

    One thing a lot of people are missing as I’m sure Cpt Paul appears to be. Such large vessels as used by the Japanese can not stop on a dime or even turn in small circles. Avoiding objects in their immediate path is nigh on impossible.

    Sea Shepard idled the Ady Gil in the path of a boat probably hundreds of times its size. What on earth did they expect to happen.

    I don’t know about anyone else, but when they announce they would be using the Ady Gil many months back I could ultimately see what was going to happen, it’s sinking.

    I don’t agree with Whaling, but Sea Shepard really do them selves no favours. They put them selves and others in harms way so they can create media spin.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=662323168 Alistair

      It’s quite clear that the Maru 2 can turn swiftly – especially when moving at speed while the Ady Gil was hardly moving at all.

      This is nothing more than attempted murder for the sake of commercial interests.

      Can anyone imagine any country lending their aggressive force for the pursuit of “science” like we are seeing here?

      It’s not the Japanese, it’s businessmen. It’s about money and the whales are paying.

      Wake up Australian Government! It’s our territory they are doing this in! Stop making us fools on the world stage!

  • http://www.ecorazzi.com Michael d'Estries

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  • Magee

    The Ady Gil was engaged in illegal activity. Much as you may dislike Japanese whalers, they’re not breaking the law. I do not condone whaling at all, however I have NO time for Sea Shepherd and their lies. ‘The Ady Gil was surprised’ HAHAHA! They parked infront of a HUGE whaling vessel, and didn’t see it?! What rubbish. It is up to the more agile boat to move out of the way – standard sea-faring rules.

    What a load of stupidity, I hope she sinks, and puts an end to the terrorists.

    It will be sad to see such a great peice of engineering written off, but hopefully Sea Shepherd will go back to nothing more that money grabbing bleating.

  • Magee

    The video CLEARLY shows the Ady Gil moving forward into the path of the whaler just before impact. Suicidal stupidity. The Ady Gil captain should be prosecuted for attempting to murder his own crew.

    • Joost

      No the video CLEARLY does not show that at all! It clearly shows the Maru 2 suddenly making a sharp turn towards the Ady Gil, which in it’s turn is almost dead in the water.
      And you may not like this but the Japanese whaler IS breaking the law. International law against cathing whales amongst others in international waters.
      Why else do you think they are so hypocrite as to labeling their ships as research ships, when they are clearly whaling for consumption.

      Apart from that, all sea shepherd does, or at least tries to do, is prevent the Japanase from doing their job. Ok, I agree their methods are aggressive. They shine with lasers in their direction (completely harmless), so they cannot aim their harpoons. They try to put ropes in the propellors to try to bring them to a halt. Their attacks are never directly endangering the people on those ships.
      As where the japanese are concerned, they aim their water cannons directly at them to cause harm. They use LRAD’s to incapacitate pilots and now they deliberately ram a ship.

      The Japanese whalers are the real criminals here!

      • Magee

        The Maru 2 making a SHARP TURN? Impossible, those things take miles to turn or stop. Learn something about nautical movement before you comment – a whaler cannot just ‘turn’.
        Ady Gil however, being a hugely expensive race boat, is significantly more agile. So why didn’t Ady Gil move out of the way? BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO BE HIT. Sea Shepherd has gone against all the laws of protecting HUMAN life, and put lives at risk by placing the Ady Gil in front of a boat that they KNEW would not be able to stop. They must have seen it coming from MILES away. It could never just accelerate from a stand still. Ady Gil could EASILY out-manouver Maru 2, it would run rings round it!
        Ridiculous actions. Ridiculous waste of money. Almost a ridiculous waste of life. Sea Shepherd should be ashamed.

        All Sea Shepherd do is take your money and crash multi-million dollar boats! What a joke! They have achieved NOTHING, other than looking stupid and making a whole load of obviously false claims.

        A DISGRACE TO HUMANITY. TRYING TO KILL PEOPLE TO ‘SAVE WHALES’. WHAT HYPOCRITES.

      • straightedge

        Magee, you’re obviously a rookie at this too.
        The Japanese don’t have a leg to stand on here… NO vessel can maneuver without momentum, so considering the Ady Gil was stationary they needed to accelerate to steer out of the way. Look at the shape of the Ady Gil, it’s design to glide stright, not turn on a dime. It’s got a horrible turning circle.

        You need to learn something about nautical laws before preaching – rookie.
        Maritime law states that when two power vessels are crossing, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way. In other words give way to your right.

        Tip; next time try keeping your eyes open when viewing videos…

      • Coastie

        “You need to learn something about nautical laws before preaching – rookie.
        Maritime law states that when two power vessels are crossing, the vessel which has the other on her own starboard side shall keep out of the way. In other words give way to your right.”

        I love so many sea lawyers on here. So many discussions of overtaking and crossing. A simple part of the COLREGS being overlooked. A vessel overtaking another may not alter course as to change her status as giveway into a status as standon in a crossing situation. So when the smaller vessel came alongside then cut across to the starboard side of the whaling ship she remained giveway until she was safely past and clear which never happened here of course.

        An overtaken vessel is expected to maintain course and speed as the whaling ship did. However, all ships are required to do whatever is necessary to avoid collision which the whaling ship did not. Bottom line, the Ady Gil was in violation first and remained in violation. The whaler stepped into violation when she did not maneuver early enough to avoid the collision.

        And my credentials? Retired U.S. Coast Guardsman who served on 7 cutters and had 6 officer of the deck letters on vessels up to 16,000 tons. One thing I did see that is true, the law of gross tonnage knows no nationality or morality.

    • Gero

      I knew that the fight against whalehunting was an ugly one but I am suprised it got that dirty. But as everyone can see by looking at the comments mentioned earlier in this forum there are people happy about actions directly targetting peoples lives. That is a ethical declaration of bancruptcy.

      In my point of view having seen the collision video by Bob Barker its hard to tell wether the “Shonan Maru II” changed course towards starboard or the “Ady Gil” tried to get into the way of the japanese vessel. Both is possible looking at the video.
      But you can see very cleary that the japanese ship is at full speed and makes no attempt to break or steet a course to larboard, what would be an apparent decision if they wanted to avoid collision. They don´t even stop to shoot with their water gun after the crash. That is an indication for their intension to do as much harm to the crew of the “Ady Gil” as possible.
      My last point: although the toughness and determination of the “Sea Shepherds” are well known I don´t think they risked a collission with an obvius outcome intensionally – with a brand new 1.2 mio dollar ship.

  • Paul

    hahahaha brilliant. about time someone put these stupid idiots down. All they need to do now is sink the other two and we will be rid of this group of totally moronic attention seeking twats once and for all. They should have never been allowed to have any ships what so ever. Hopefully they will kill a few of them next time. Jobs a good’in.

    Paul

    • Timmy John

      WOW
      what next?….Why are people not being this aggressive when it comes to other humans being killed? NO they act dumb over a whale. how many babies were sucked out of a unwanting mother womb or how many people were killed in the Sudan last evening??
      Fricken whales? When people stop careing for fellow people then were on the endangered species list not the ANAMIALS.

      • Cecil Stockton

        Timmy, let me enlighten you. Most people are capable of caring about the plight of humans in Sudan and elsewhere yet still care about the illegal slaughter of some of the most magnificent creatures God has created.

        That you obviously lack that capability does not mean the rest of us do.

      • timmyjohn

        cecil,
        Really, too bad for the whales & they have little effect on the overall out come of the future of man. I guess that your in the Sudan currently saving lives sorry to be miss lead by your god like powers.
        Question: Would you swerve your car/bike/skateboard to save running over a animal knowing that you will harm a human in the process?

        Sorry I am aware of the reality of the world & eat or be eaten. God/Darwen say so! evolve or execpt your fate.

  • GWOT

    The crews of these research vessels are entitled to defend themselves. I am glad everyone survived the collision, but if some road raging lunatic in a sports car pulled in front of me on the LA freeway or worse some long deserted back road trying to stop me, I would step on the gas of my F350 and escape too.

    Congrats on wasting $5 million dollars Sea Shepard, the money might have been better spent buying rainforest or something.

  • http://idiots anonymous

    i thought this was a joke when i read it this morning. But i guess not as you deranged folks are seriously upset – or very good actors.

    So, let me get this right. You spend your whole life trying to sabotage other vessels by throwing rope in their props so that their boats can become ruined, but you complain if someone causes the same effect to your ship? Basically, you two are doing the same things, you just got hurt in the process. Whine away!

    If you declare war on someone, then you must be prepared to pay the consequences. If not, then why did you go to war in the first place?

    If you wanted to be real men about it, then you would probably stop crying about it, lick your wounds, and regroup. btw – this type of action has never changed anyones mind about anything. I dare you to challenge that notion.

    • Magee

      I agree! Sea Shepherd try to sabotage whalers vessels, but CRY when Ady Gil is damaged?! Bitten off more than they can chew this time.

  • Jsn melonhead

    Wheres your fund ?, I will gladly contribute to the re construction of this amazing boat and buy the brave men and women on board a few beers.

    Well done, I would love to see one of those bastard whalers sunk.

    Jsn

    • Magee

      I think your money would be better spent buying the Ady Gil’s pilot a few navigation lessons….maybe he would learn not to sail a multi-million dollar racing ship in front of a large whaler that won’t be able to stop in time. IDIOT.

  • Chris

    The Ady Gil was not idle. I saw the video of the collision. It was clearly moving forward beside the whaling vessel until the two collided, at which point the Ady Gil is going in reverse to get away from the ship.
    The statement made that the Ady Gil was “idle” or “dead in the water” before the whaling vessel rammed it is untrue. Lies like this tarnish the image of this anti-whaling group when it needs nothing but support. The Ady Gil got too agressive with a multi-million dollar ship and are paying the consequences.

  • WTF

    You call this reporting!?

    Have you even see the video yet guys or are you just “media regurgitrons” for SSCS?

    Clearly the stealth ship was under full power ahead (look at video) deliberately placing it in front of the whalers. In fact the whalers tried to move out of the way.

    Istead you blindly report this

    “He said the stealth boat was idling in waters near Commonwealth Bay when it was suddenly approached and rammed by the Japanese ship.”

    Get some facts Ecorazzi or change your name to “SSCCS Media Mouth.”

    Pathetic blog reporting.

    • http://www.ecorazzi.com Michael d'Estries

      Have you bothered to even check the time stamp of this post?

      We reported this news on the fly as it was breaking around the world. At the time, details were sketchy — as you’ll see from the various updates in the post.

      A video was only shown later.

      Nevertheless, your comment about the Ady Gil being “under full power ahead” makes little sense. The ship was definitely idle and appears to have been looking to get the hell out of the way and make a right turn to avoid being hit.

      Watson’s account as quoted does correlate to what Captain Pete Bethune on board the Ady Gil said.

      Mr Bethune told The Age that the 1000-tonne Japanese ship turned toward the 18-tonne Ady Gil from about 75 metres away. ”We thought they were going to turn a water cannon on us and I told my crew to brace for that,” he said. ”Then they T-boned my boat. It was just massive … It’s a miracle we all survived.”

      And another account:

      Sydney-born activist Jason Stewart, who was on board the Ady Gil, said the protest vessel and Japanese factory ship the Nisshin Maru were “having a bit of a skirmish” when the Ady Gil became low on fuel and it was forced to stop its pursuit. “We were basically disengaged and we were waving goodbye to the other Sea Shepherd vessel, the Bob Barker, which was going to continue the pursuit of the Nisshin Maru,” he said. “I was inside the boat at this point and suddenly I could hear one of the Japanese boats coming at us. “I took a look through a window and I could see the bow of the Shonan Maru No. 2 coming straight at us and then it just hit us and there was a big crunch, a hell of a bang. “The next thing I remember was seeing daylight through a big hole.”
      The former policeman, 41, who now lives in New Zealand, made a mayday call and said the Japanese made no effort to help. “We were just sitting ducks and they just took us out,” he said. “I was only 4m from where the hull took the nose off our boat. “It can’t have been anything but a deliberate attack.”

      • Magee

        “The ship was definitely IDLE and appears to have been looking to get the hell out of the way and MAKE A RIGHT TURN to avoid being hit.”

        You, Michael d’Estries, make no sense. How could it be idle and moving out of the way at the same time? LOOKING to get the hell out of there? How do you know where they were looking?? lol

        They Ady Gil was piloted in front of the Maru 2! That is obvious.

        “We reported this news on the fly” Basically that means that you took the Sea Shepherd line, and ran with it. Bet you didn’t ask the Japanese crew did you?

        Both your ‘witness’ statements are from people on the Ady Gil! Obviuosly they are going to say that!

        Ecorazzi has totally failed to be impartial, and has let down all those that read this blog.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/kombizz/sets/ kombizz

    I do not want to see the whale be killed by Japanese people.
    I am not sure what would be the best way to stop them.

  • Milly

    Sea Shepherd brought a knife to a gun-fight with the Ady Gil. It looked like a nice piece of engineering and should have been put to a better use than harassing whalers in Antarctica.

  • Magee

    Below is a funny link. These are painted on the side of a Sea Shepherd boat, showing thier ‘kills’ (vessels they have sunk)

    Many Ady Gil should be painted on too?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DSC_0564_sm.jpg

  • Ronald A. Hysom

    Terrorists must be dealt with-both christian, islamic AND ecological.

  • MarineBiologist

    Clearly, the Sea Shepherds never learned the big-boat little-boat rule, also known as “The little boat gets the **** out of the way”. As a person who spends a lot of time on the water, the video shows the Ady Gil was clearly being piloted recklessly and with a disregard for safety and common sense. You do NOT get that close to a large boat in the water. It’s common sense, period. What the Sea Shepherds are doing is putting human life at risk, regardless of how necessary they think it is for their goal. Now, judging from other video, it also looks like the Whaling Vessel was being piloted aggressively, but it is hard to tell, giving how rough the seas are. Though it looks like there is some fault for both parties, in the end, where safety is concerned, it’s the Ady Gil’s responsibility to maintain a safe distance, not the other way around.

  • JohnnyPW

    From the video it appears that the Bat Boat was passing the whale barge at a high rate of speed and then cutting in front of the whale barge. That is like pulling in front of a semi truck doing 70 mph on the freeway and slamming on your brakes.

    Then crying that you get rear ended by the big rig. You Sea “Shepherds” need to grow up. If the Japanese whalers wanted to they would just take you guys all out in one sweep. The whalers have shown a lot of restraint to your harassment.

    So Sea Shepherds 10 kills

    (See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DSC_0564_sm.jpg)

    Whalers 1 kill

    So you guys are still ahead by 9 !

  • http://tehchad.com Chad

    I’m rather interested in stealth boats after reading all of this….
    I’ve read the article and ALL of the comments. The video (the one from the Japanese boat) shows the Ady Gil moving. I can’t really tell how fast it is going, but it seems that it is only slighty slower than the bigger boat.
    I know that the Japanese have been accused of illegal whaling in many waters. I also know that I saw a decal on the side of the back wings of the Ady that appears to be some sort of pirate insignia. I can’t make it out exactly though.
    My conclusion is that the Japanese were not whaling. The smaller boat was indeed moving. And the bigger boat rammed the smaller boat. I’m not an advocate of violence, but I’d guess that fault would fall upon the captain of the smaller boat.
    My $0.02

    • Linda Kemp

      Chad, the ‘pirate’ insignia of Sea Shepherd is a skull that represents what man is doing to the oceans (killing them). The skull comprises of a yin and yang sign made up of a dolphin and a sperm whale. What would have been crossed bones on a pirate’s jolly roger, are in fact a shepherd’s crook and neptune’s trident because they are Sea Shepherds – pirates of compassion.

  • http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=9FD18926170ED901&search_query=earthlings Whoever…

    This definitely proves, once and for all, the scum japanese whalers are!

    I guess it’s a japanese tradition to cowardly attack unprotected ‘enemies’. If the japanese society doesn’t condemn this action, then I will become racist against the ‘japs’…

    They have no respect for any form of life, whether it’s human or non-human. This reminds me of the study carried out by the FBI where it was clearly shown that the majority of the most violent criminals (rapists, murderers, etc.) started committing violent acts against animals.

    I wonder if the idiots (=human zombies, human scum, evil defenders) who defend whaling and whalers and who accuse the members of SS of being terrorists still believe the whalers are nice people and the activists are the bad guys here. If you do, then I say your life is worth so much less than the lives of the innocent whales ‘who’ are murdered by human scum.

    You’re so lucky I don’t belong to an organization like ALF because then I would show you what eco-terrorism really is! I would spare no human scum like whalers!!

    japanese are technologically evolved but their level of evolution is extremely low.
    My country used to be a whaling country but since the moratorium we have never killed a whale again and instead we promoted eco-tourism like whale watching. And where the whaling industry was once based we created a university mainly dedicated to REAL marine research. So as you can see we now profit so much more from the end of whaling than if we had stubbornly perpetuated it. Why can’t japan do the same thing?

    Humans are nothing but a plague, a virus that must be controlled otherwise we’ll end up destroying our only ‘host’ – EARTH. And we could begin by getting rid of trash such as hideyoshi and the likes of him.

    Oh, and BTW I’m being consciously very emotional, because if I wasn’t emotional I wouldn’t be much different from hideyoshi or whalers, murderers, rapists, etc. Those people are emotionally empty and that’s why they think and act the way they do… And I don’t want to be like them at all therefore I am one proud emotional person.

    I can’t wait for the population reduction that’s on the way :) :) :)

    • Paul

      IDIOT. Enough said.

  • Eric

    F Em

  • Captain Quest

    I sit here reading this entire forum and can come to only one conclusion. Both sides are at fault in this situation. This organization is conduction paramilitary and harassment operations against the whaling ships.

    The whaling ships in turn are defending themselves with firehose attacks and now have escalated to ramming. But the simple truth is how international law handles this type of situation.

    Any ship in international waters that finds itself under attack from seaborne assailants has the right to defend itself and its passengers and crew by any means possible. This means that ramming in this situation if the captain felt that his crew were in danger is not only legal but right.

    IF this organization feels they have a legal case against the Japanese then take it to world court for a judgement and eventual sanctions against the company or country. DO NOT DICK AROUND WITH THE LIVES OF SAILORS AT SEA!

    You want to show your flag and be seen on TV fine but keep your ships a minimum of 1/2 mile from any vessel of 100 tons or more. But you already know the rules, you don’t follow them because that doesn’t give you the harrowing footage you need to attract ignorant people to give you donations.

    By all means, save the whales but do it legally. If the law is blind then open its eyes but in a court not on the high seas!

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  • Roguebull

    Ah, what a great way to start the morning! You got to hand it to the Jap whalers. The Sheps pull a last-second, reckless, Hollywood run across the bow of a whaler ship they’ve seen coming, they appropriately get their new bat-boat guillotined, and then the Japs give the eco-brats a dose of close-range, high-pressure firehose in their faces for good measure as they pass the wreck. Superb!

    Personally, the video makes it appear that the bat-boat skipper panicked at the last second and gunned the engines to back up, but forgot he/she was still in the forward gear engagement. Sea Clowns sail again!

    I bet the Animal Channel cameramen on the bat-boat beat the crap out of the incompetent bat-boat captain for nearly getting them killed with his/her gross stupidity.

    Knock off the whaling, Japs, but sink the rest of the Sheppie eco-brat fleet first.

  • From MN, with hope…

    I am going to make two points.

    Sea Shepherds Ady Gil was stationary. In the first video a wake was shown possibly due to the startup of their engines, because they probably didnt count on the Japanese getting so close, and its a fast boat, so that wake was probably the engines revving up, because it probably has nothing like a clutch. Chances are they wanted to back away. Why would they want to sink an asset to the Society? $2 mil. down the hole.

    The Yushin Maru did look as if it turned into the Ady in the second video shown at the link up there from southernfriedscientist. This couldve been braught upon by the rough seas, but very unlikely. That ship is very manueverable because it has to catch whales. They couldve at least slowed! I’m not sure how they could NOT be at fault. Closest to that, both sides are blamed. And, um… I saw a person on the roof of the Ady messing with something prior to the crash. Now that is wreckless, but if they didnt see him than… I’m not sure. It probably snuck up on them because they coulnt hear over the LRAD. I mean, LRAD pointed at you, working on your boat, not looking in that direct, and then “Holy crap, big blue bow!!”

    This will be bad for the Japanese and members of Sea Shepherd. They lost a ship. Very bad. And to add salt to the wound, not even in combat…Very depressing that Earthrace is lost to the waters of the Southern Ocean, and the ICRs blood is on the corpse.

    • Paul

      Also and idiot. Some of the comments on this forum are shocking. Where do you people come from????? Engines revving up??? u have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

      • Quagmire

        Look at the footage from Bob Barker and you’ll find that the revving up was a last attempt to evade the attack. Water canons and the LRAD is completely blindfolding the crew on the Ady Gil. YOU, my friend, have absolutely no idea what you are talking about…

      • Paul

        I beg to differ mr Quagmire. the point the person above was making was that the Ady Gil was IDLE and the wake created was from their revving engines. IDLE boats to not create wakes. These boats have neutral, ahead and astern. U can see from the videos if you look under the props which direction the current of water is flowing. Its going ahead fast. u can tell by looking at it. he then shits himself and slams it into reverse. The whole idea is fast speed boats is to have immediate power at ur finger tips. No fucking revving involved. IDIOT!!!!!!!!!

      • powerboat driver

        A message to Paul.

        You have no clue either. ANY boat big or small has to remain under some power to have steerage. I pilot offshore powerboats that are alot faster than the Ady. You cannot just cut the power to the props and steer in any kind of current, much less in large swells such as visible in the video. The wake behind the Ady is nothing more than the props slowly turning at idle, or just off idle, to have some steering control. Ady was moving forward definitely…at maybe 1 knot, barely moving at all to have control. I see no bow wake or motion from the boat other than rolling with the waves. The Ady for all intents and purposes was virtually stationary and idling as some suggest. Even though the Ady is a fast boat it still cannot go from a rest to motion in reverse and evade a collision in the in the blink of an eye.

        I know the rule of the sea and the common sense involved that tells one to get outta the way of bigger ships. I watched the videos and from the bow on shot it is readily apparent that the Japanese ship made an aggressive move to port toward the Ady a few seconds before the collision. It definitely WAS NOT sailing in a direct line. Had it remained on a straight path it would have missed the smaller vessel. I am sure the Ady crew was surprised at the actions of the Japanese ship and had little time to reverse the engines, throttle up and move outta the way. On my boat which is a measly 40feet, 9000lb offshore V bottom, it takes a good 3 to 4seconds to go from forward idle to reverse and gain enough bite with the props to get moving with any meaningful velocity. Certainly the Ady being much larger than my boat would take at least twice long to do the same. Not enough time to get outta the way with a ship turning towards you unexpectedly which also I’m sure, hampered the Ady pilot’s reaction time.

        “SURPRISE!!, I’m gonna get rammed. Oh crap, reverse, reverse, reverse!!!!”

        I bet that is exactly what went through the pilots head. Couple the surprise slowing reaction time with the actual amount of time it would take to get the Ady in gear and moving outta the way and you get a collision.

        Not here to pass judgment on who’s fault it was. Just trying to explain to the no nothings about boats that it wouldn’t be like a sports car swerving around a big rig on dry pavement. Maybe if the sports car and the big rig were on an icy road would explain the reaction times involved here.

      • Paul

        powerboat driver. Im do not contest anything u said, i realise boats need power to have steerage. The point i was trying to make is that you can see the change in power by looking at the prop wash. U can clearly see the Ady Gil is going ahead at the point of impact. Theres no two ways about it, u can just see it. Im not saying either that the Japanese ship did not turn towards them, it did. but so what. he also turns back to port at the last minute. The simple fact is the Ady Gil should not have been anywhere near a ship of that size. Either idle or under power. This groups tactics and methods supposedly saving whales are ridiculous and completely ineffective. Not to dumb the issue down but south park totally hit the nail on the head with their whale wars episode. What disappoints me is the level of support these people have when it is obviously a money making, publicity seeking endeavour.

  • Ron

    Sea Shepherd are criminals. They have sunk ships themselves in the past. Paul Watson wants to see a big reduction in the HUMAN POPULATION (did you know that?) ….!!

    I say ‘good for you whalers’!

    And I don’t even like whaling … BUT I have no sympathy for the criminals either.

    • http://www.yahoo.com Mark

      You are insane. Those are protected waters. The same way that people hunt in National Parks is exactly what the Japanese are doing.

      It’s their boats that need to be stopped! The Whales are protected! You are an idiot.

      • JonF

        Agreed with Mark’s comments above. Assuming they’re protected waters, then they’re protected waters and the researchers/whalers shouldn’t be there in the first place.

    • straightedge

      Ron, Sea Shepherd have sunk pirate whaling ships operating in illegal whaling. All were in harbour and no one has ever been injured when a ship has been scuttled.
      SS employ the United Nations World Charter for Nature. Sections 21-24 of the Charter provides authority to individuals to act on behalf of and enforce international conservation laws.

      Another thing (i’ll keep this short because it’s way off subject)… the human race is running rampant. In the last 200 years we’ve exploited every natural resource on the planet. Extinctions, global deforestation, over fishing, open cut mining, killing, drilling, polluting, pillaging, raping the Earth more than it can handle. Ron a reality check will hopfully make you realise that 6 billion people and counting is in no way sustainable. We cannot continue on the same path.

  • scooby-doo

    *yawn*

    Stunts like this only further erodes the credibility of Greenpeace.

    Sad really.

    • Defiant

      Greenpeace was not involved in this in any way shape or form. Stunts may erode credibility, but uninformed comments certainly do.

    • straightedge

      Fail

  • http://imkrisna.webatu.com Krisna

    Ramming the earth protector ship..????????

    what are they think!! are they have some brain?

    • straightedge

      Win

  • haha

    HAHAHAHAHA

  • CommonSense02

    Watch the video that’s on youtube. The speedboat had 1000 hp, and could have moved. Instead, they throttled up and shoved their bow in front of the other vessel like true suicidal fanatics.

    Playing victim won’t work. The video shows the truth.

  • http://www.zoombits.de/game-zubehor/ds-lite-zubehoer/ds-lite-stylus-paket-(weiß)-(offiziell)/11530 nintendo ds stylus

    The crew of six have all been accounted for, Watson confirmed. Five are on the new ship MV Bob Barker, with one still on the Ady Gil. We imagine that guy to be Captain Pete Bethune, who designed and built the boat.

  • Last Samurai

    There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about Japanese people and Japanese culture. It’s too bad that some Westerners cannot bridge the gap in a civilized way, judging by the wording of many comments here. Why must we be terrorized by fanaticism and ethnocentrism disguised as “caring.” Please learn more about Japanese culture and history before you make judgements, it just makes you look foolish otherwise.

    A review of maritime right-of-way would also be a good idea.

  • Jim

    This is brutal crime. They should ban killing whales for any reason, including “scientific research”…

    Primitive bastards!

  • yzer

    I’m on the side of whale conservation here, but from some of the video I’ve seen it appears that Ady Gil ran into Shonan Maru 2. Note the prop wash behind the boat. It was in forward gear and moving toward the ship at the time of the collision. Yes, there is a gear selector on power boats and the prop doesn’t rotate until it is used. In this situation that selector should have been in neutral or reverse: not forward. (Ady Gil appears to be a very unsuitable boat for whale patrol in those waters. Maybe they just wanted to dump the bat boat and collect the insurance for a better craft.)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7gZd0ihZCE

    • Quagmire

      There’s no doubt that Shonan Maru 2 rammed Ady Gil after looking at this footage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlf4jZQXtyE

      I say it’s about time to fight back if international law isn’t valid in these waters. Get a sub and some torpedos…

  • Paul
  • http://projectcamelot.org/ Whoever…

    I find it extremely interesting that the same idiots (= zombies) who were always accusing SS of putting human lives at risk are the same ones who now are extremely happy that a ship was intentionally rammed to harm human lives.

    Anyone with half a brain can clearly see that the maneuver carried out by Shonan Maru 2 was done so they could actually destroy the Ady Gil and injure the activists.

    So, to all those idiots (your level of ‘zombification’ is extremely high and you don’t even know it – no wonder it’s so easy to control and enslave the human population) who defend this barbaric action I would like to ask you the following: as long as it’s ‘your side’ that’s doing the ramming and putting lives at stake it’s okay to do so, but if it’s an organization which wants to actually save lives (in this case the whales’) and protect the environment, then they’re terrorists…?

    Talk about being biased.
    Therefore if this is only a matter of perspective, what makes your points of view right and mine wrong?

    Zombies…

    Oh, and the population reduction I referred to (as well as human enslavement) is being carried out for a very long time now (but it’s now entering its final phase), by the same people you defend: the CEOs of multinationals, bankers, the owners of pharmaceutical and oil companies, religious and political leaders and so on…
    Why do you think wars are created, viruses appear out of nowhere and financial crises suddenly emerge?

    Everyday I’m more and more appalled by the low level of consciousness of humans!
    What will it take to finally open your eyes?

    I guess we need an unprecedented environmental catastrophe or maybe a WWIII… but if that’s what it’ll take, then that’s what will happen!

  • DAN

    You don’t take a knife to a gunfight. Opposing a whaling ship with a glorified powerboat is stupid. The need to harvest whales is a thing of the past but building “batboats” and trying to pull/park in front of and block a ship is a fools game. Ships do not stop or turn on a dime. This was not attempted murder by a whaler, it was attempted suicide by the captain of the Adi Gil.

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