Animal Planet Whale Wars

**Capt_Anonymous** · January 6th, 2009, 10:01 AM

I wouldn't be surprised if the Japanese were part of the whole scam. Animal Planet shovels money at them for some good video.

**Capt_Anonymous** · January 20th, 2009, 11:55 AM

My esteemed colleague, Capt. Fran, sends from the Southern Latitudes:

The Sea Shepherd ship, Steve Irwin, is tied up behind us here in Hobart. These guys go around and purposefully ram other ships under the guise of "saving the whales". Well, last night I was having a couple of beers with some of my shipmates when we saw that a bunch of Sea Shepherd crew were drinking at the table next to us. One of their crewmembers came over and sat down and started chatting with us. (Let me put a note in here that at no time during the course of the entire evening were voices raised in anger.) Anyway, this woman, named Zin, was actually quite nice and handled my questions well, although not to my satisfaction.

None of their crew are professional sailors; they are all just young idealists that have no idea the danger their captain is putting them in. They have no basic safety training, no survival training, hell, they don't know how to tie a bowline, let alone how to put on an immersion suit. They have no idea of what the sea is really about. And they ram ships in the Antarctic.

So, when the Captain showed up, the crew all started acting a bit Stepford-esque, and clearly he has some personal charisma working for him. My suspicion, which I shared with him, is that he has a bit of a cult-like following and uses his charisma to get these young idealists to come work for him for free. And since they trust him implicitly (think Reverend Jones in Guyana), they don't think twice about what type of danger they might be in.

He said he explains the danger to them and that each person has to sign a contract that essentially says that they understand and would be willing to die for the cause. WTF? That is where the "Shame on you, sir. Shame on you." sentence might have been uttered. The conversation went on from there, but suffice to say that he now knows that I consider him to be a pompous and arrogant man that really only cares about satisfying his own egomaniacal needs, and cares nothing about the lives of the people on the ships that he endangers, or about the welfare of the crew that so blindingly trusts him to keep them safe.

And to reiterate, voices were never raised in anger, but clearly we did not part as friends.

**El Capitan** · January 20th, 2009, 12:09 PM

Good Stuff C_A ! Interesting.

**Capt_Anonymous** · January 20th, 2009, 02:47 PM

Too bad that encounter won't make it on the show.

**CMA_Decky** · January 20th, 2009, 05:34 PM

It would be nice to be able to show the world how much we disaprove of his actions and be able to explain to people just how dangerous he's being.

**Robert** · January 21st, 2009, 11:06 AM

Perhaps a "Have you no shame, sir?"

**Mikey** · February 6th, 2009, 09:00 AM

More on that ramming...

Activist ship hits Japanese whaling vessel

SYDNEY (AFP) — Militant environmental activists said Friday their ship collided with a Japanese whaling vessel during a clash in Antarctic waters, and accused the hunters of unprecedented aggression.

"We've been in pretty intense confrontations with them for the past few days," Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship the Steve Irwin, told AFP.

"We were in the process of blocking the transfer (of a dead whale) from the Yushin Maru No.2 when the Yushin Maru No.1 moved directly in front of the bow to block us," he said.

"I could not turn to starboard without hitting the Yushin Maru No.1. I tried to back down but the movement of the Yushin Maru No.2 made the collision unavoidable."

Watson said there was damage to the harpoon ship's railing, but it was only slight.

**Robert** · February 6th, 2009, 09:03 AM

Sadly that is not a new tactic. But it does demonstrate once again the utter lack of seamanship and his willingness to disregard human lives. But I guess in his world whales are more important.

**fletcher** · February 6th, 2009, 02:21 PM

could this be the incident in question?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohNRh10CeCI

**Robert** · February 6th, 2009, 02:26 PM

That is a great video clip.

**Jeffrox** · February 6th, 2009, 04:37 PM

All this "unavoidable" ramming could trigger an unavoidable harpoon launch into the Steve Irwins wheelhouse.

**capnmorgan** · February 6th, 2009, 07:47 PM

I guess that whole clear ahead clear astern thing just goes out the window. Rules of the Road what is that, this guy is going to get people killed. The irony of it is the Whalers will be the ones plucking these idiots out of the water when the time comes.

**Captainmugsy** · February 6th, 2009, 10:24 PM

I just want to put my 2 cents in on this one, I see most of you have already covered this but: I was Stunned when I saw this show! Never have I seen a crazier Captain then this Guy. He blackmailed that deck hand with his job to board that Jap Whaler. That dude is lucky he didn't get shot or thrown overboard. Then that Captain wants to call the Aussie Coast Guard to report a kidnapping. ???? Hello Cappy but what you just did is illegal you are the one that is going to jail! Then throwing nets in front of a ship????? Are you nuts??? The way I understand it is this Captain got kicked out of Green Peace for being to raditcail. How crazy do you have to be to get kicked out of Green Peace? I would much rather watch Deadlest catch!

**Wazzaf** · February 7th, 2009, 12:37 AM

Wow

I belong to many forums and frequently visit GCaptain.com as I have an association with the Maritime Industry going back many years.

Never, ever, have I been so incensed that I have registered to offer comment.

The comments offered so far CANNOT be from professional mariners, for nowhwere is there any consideration given as to what is happening to the whales.

DO YOU THINK THE WHALES ENJOY WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THEM????????

If any of you thinks yes, then I would suggest that you do a bit of soul searching. Just remember that without the creatures of the sea you would have NO CAREER.

@Capt_Anonymous. Are you really in the Maritime Industry?, you comments are at the minimum gratituous and closer to being lazy.

There are Protocols and procedures in place

BUT

do not be so complacement that you are not prepared to protect the sea that provides you with so much.

BTW I am in the category that is known as an old F**t but as I said earlier I have NEVER, EVER, BEEN SO ANGRY with the complacency that you have shown above.

Much steam rising

Cheers

**CMA_Decky** · February 7th, 2009, 12:48 AM

So does that mean you're willing to see your fellow mariners hurt or killed over the whales? What about an oil spill in the middle of a pod of whales? Seems like with all this ramming sea shephard does it's only a matter of time before someone ruptures a fuel tank. I don't think that any of us are for whaling, but I know personally I believe that the way sea shephard goes about it is illegal and wrong.

**c.captain** · February 7th, 2009, 03:19 AM

Hey Wazzaf...go take a Zanax or something

from another old f**t

**Captainmugsy** · February 7th, 2009, 04:26 AM

I think I speak for all on here when I say, We love the whales and wouldn't want any harm to come to them. Having said that, The things that this Captain and his crew ( I use this term losely) do are far from being professional mariners.

**captbbrucato** · February 7th, 2009, 06:48 AM

The fact is this clown is a criminal. Whaling is a legal Japanese enterprise whether we agree with it or not. This asshole risked his own crew and the crew of the whaler in a blatant violation of the law. If he'd like to put his ass on the line in a RIB then let him do it to himself and not the rest of these idiots he has on board. The lot of them wouldn't add up to the sweat on an Ordinary's ass.
He should be brought to task and arrested for his actions and the court should throw the book at him. Where the Hell are the supposed "flag state" authorities? I hope the next whaler he rams takes out his collision bulkhead and puts him on the bottom.
BB

**Jeffrox** · February 7th, 2009, 07:46 AM

I saw a video clip of the ramming incident on the TV news this morning, the anchorwomen worded her reprot to make it sound as if the whaling ships are the agressors. Typical spin instead of facts.

**john** · February 7th, 2009, 11:11 AM

Wazzaff,

As the founder of this site, a licensed Captain of large ships and the husband of a feverant environmentalist I would like to answer a few of your questions. First these (the members of this forum) are all professional mariners. Second, I can't speak for the rest of the guys here but personally I support the cause but think Capt Paul Watson might be doing more harm than good and is certainly putting his crew of young and passionate followers at unnecessary risk.

The problem I have is the lack of professionalism. Sailing Arctic waters is inherently dangerous so Watson is right in saying that anyone who boards his vessel should be prepared to die for the whales. But he uses this as an excuse to justify unprofessional, dangerous behavior. In the entire season I saw no fire drills, no boat drills, no hands on mentoring and a number of hung over people on deck. Why??

Dangerous, courageous ops against whaling fleets is to be commended. Using the mission as an excuse to be lazy about safety is criminal. If I was ever the judge in the trial of Watson I'd give him a medal for his courage against whalers and dismiss the case.... then file charges and lock him up for attempted negligent homicide against his crew.

I just don't understand why Sea Shepard can't be hostile to whalers while running there vessels in a professional and safe manner?

To help illustrate my point here is a comment I recieved from from Houston Ship Pilot Oneeighteen;

Might not have been intentional. This is a classic example of what happens when one vessel tries to overtake another too close to the stern. The bow gets sucked right into the quarter near the propellar. Even with hard over rudder the bow gets pulled in. I realize that the Irwin was't trying to overtake, but they were in the position where that usually happens.

The problem is that Watson blames this on the whaling ship and the whaling ship blames it on Watson both claiming it was intentional both distracting from the truth that the mate on watch was simply a poor ship handler.

My message to Watson: I would love to support you guys but I can't untill you get serious about the safety of your crew and vessel and start running the ship with professional integrity.