The Ady Gil. Photo: JJ Harrison via Wikipedia
Yesterday was a bad day for Cap’n Paul Watson. Not only was he forced to resign from his post as president of Sea Shepherd in wake of legal issues facing him and his organization, but he was also sued by the real Ady Gil in connection to the 2010 sinking of the MY Ady Gil.
According to the gossip website TMZ (yup, I went there), Paul Watson, founder and now ex-president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has been sued by Gil, who says he actually owned the high speed catamaran that famously sunk after a collision with a Japanese whaler while filming the show “Whale Wars.”
In the lawsuit, which was filed yesterday in a L.A. courtroom, Gil claims that Watson used the 2010 collision as an opportunity to promote the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s anti-whaling efforts by lying about the circumstances surrounding the sinking of the vessel.
Gil maintains that he had lent Watson and the Sea Shepherd the boat on the basis that they would take care of it. Obviously that didn’t happen, and it sunk allegedly following the collision with the whaler even though footage of the boat actually going down was never released.
Gil says that the collision only resulted in damage to the Ady Gil’s bow and that the damages could have been repaired. The suit claims that Watson, being the marketer as he is, saw the collision as an opportunity to garner support for his cause and secretly ordered members of his crew to scuttle the boat “under the cover of darkness”, then blamed the whole thing on the Japanese.
Now Gil is pursuing more than $5 million in damages from Watson for failing to keep up with his end of the bargain.
As far as his resignation goes… Watson was forced to resign as president of Sea Shepherd U.S. and Australia in wake of a recent U.S. injunction barring him and his organization from physically attacking, or approaching within 500 yards, of any Institute of Cetacean Research vessels navigating on the open sea.
Stay tuned…
You are right GCaptain! We love it! HaHa!
well well , 'bout time Watson has starting to get the end of the big stick.
well well , 'bout time Watson has starting to get the end of the big stick.
I think I would rather have a conversation or ship out with capt crunch of cereal fame…
Ady Gil (the guy) must be going broke, or looking for attention. There wasnt footage of the sinking released on whale wars, BUT the ICR and sea shepherd have footage of her hull well below the waterline. Furthurmore, the captain of the Ady Gil was present when reasonble efforts were made to save her, and was asked about scuddling the AG. And a step furthur, Paul Was not on the AG, so how could he be held responsible for her being RUN OVER by a japanese whaling vessel? This lawsuit has no merits whatsoever, which brings me to my initial statement. Ady Gil (the guy) must be going broke or looking for attention. I hope he (Ady Gil the guy) is sidelined with crazy lawyers bills.
Yeah, and Watson was really shot.
Lol.
Frank i think your a tool if you followed Sea Shepard or Pete Bethune you would know that the ADI GIL was purchased by Sea Shepard but did NOT pay the full amount so he (Pete Bethune) wants his cash that is rightfully his. You cant go and bye a 10 mill car only pay half the crash it not to expect to pay the other half???? As for Paul Watson being responsible i dont think he should be held accountable for it. It is Adi Gil crew that should of been at the helm and not screaming at the japs
Paul signed the contract taking responsibility for the boat that's what makes him responsible. As far as watson resigning it's a childish attempt to save his own butt from the US court but it wont help him in the least, sea shepherd supporters might be dumb but the court isn't, it just shows what a childish coward he is. SSCS in the USA funded this action while paul was the prez. he is still listed as the head of the sscs, he's going to take the entire org down with him. YAY!
No, reasonable efforts were NOT made, nor was salvage performed before she was sunk, a choice made by “admiral”/captain Watson.
Ady has neither need nor desire of publicity. The fact is that SSCS was to pay for the part of the vessel and never did so. Then, after the incident (which SSCS capitalized on rather heavily) they refused to pay for the lost boat, even though the contract (which I’ve read, which is available on our website) requires that SSCS be responsible for the value of the boat.
Thehe captain of the Ady Gil claims that Watson decided to scuttle the vessel rather than bring it to port. And Mr Watson made the decision to leave the Ady Gil, with almost empty fuel tanks, by itself in the Southern Ocean for days waiting to be refueled knowing that aggressive Japanese vessels were present.
i wasnt speaking of Pete B. I know ady gil gave a million and SSCS was to pay the additional 1/2 million to Pete. and its not specifically the USA that funded anything, in fact Pauls biggest contributers are from Aus, and New zealand. SSCS does get large contributions from US supporters, but its a worldwide effort. I honestly dont think any of you are interested in any of the SSCS efforts or discussing it at all, but instead you chose to take an ANTI SSCS approach. I dont feed into BS on here, I gave my opinion on this suit that has no merit, and thats my opinion.
Esho Junior It's not Pete suing.
Esho Junior Just an FYI, there was a member of the crew at the helm. The Ady Gil was not designed for visibility, it was designed for wave piercing and speed. The reason the ship holds the world record for circumnavigating the globe is because of it's ability to dive underwater, cutting through the waves – but has very small windows with a limited view port. By the time the helmsman (Jason Stewart) knew the Shonan Maru had changed course and was about to collide, there was very little time for a reaction. He attempted to move the Ady Gil, however it was too late and the collision occurred. Turning was not an option as the rudders on the Ady Gil were small to allow turning at high speeds, but was not highly effective at maneuvering at slower speeds.
The Ady Gil was actually owned by Ady Gil, and was leased to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for a very small amount (I believe it was $1, but I'm not 100% sure on the amount), however there were conditions of the lease to SSCS that were not met due to the scuttling of the ship.
The sponsons of the Ady Gil (The two legs) were filled with styrofoam. The only way the Ady Gil would have actually sank would have been the removal of the sponsons. This was confirmed by LOM Ocean, the manufacturers of the ship. According to first hand information I had previously received, the sinking of the Ady Gil was intentional. They flooded the compartment to the best of their ability to enforce sinking, and they did release the tow line to the ship – but it was never confirmed to have actually sunk. The ship was left adrift in the southern ocean.
Steve Seeboth Anyone who ever worked with guns and flash bangs knows the difference i have seen the footage the bang was a standard .22 Cal Rifle used by the whalers taking pot shots at dyeing whales what a 22 dose besides cause more pain to a whale i can't say but having been witness to Swat demos of flash bangs and a lifelong hunter i can safely say Watson was shot at with a .22 cal rifle. Notice I AM A HUNTER NOT AN ACTIVIST OR TREEHUGGER.
People some of you don't understand no matter what you call it's a war and just like any war you do what you have to do to win.Leave the S.S out pf your money getting schemes.They new the risk when they sign on.
Richard; You're a danged liar is what you are. a .22 caliber bullet isn't gonna rip through a bullet proof vest with enough force to dent that badge, let alone any bullet transfer that much energy and not rock his world. When you get shot with any bullet, you feel it, and I mean FEEL it in pain, it will knock you back. You won't say "oh, by the way, I think I've been shot". And no, the whalers rely on a caliber more along the .357 size that will, you know, actually do damage. The only thing you've hunted are rabbits and squirrels, and that was when you were a child tying paper bags on a cat's feet
Gene Flegal So when the Japanese bring down naval ships and start putting 5 inch shells through the SS, you'll accept that as fair play? There is no war, it's a bunch of manchild, antisocial "activists" trying to play cops and robbers one last time. Watson's in it for the money and the ego trip. His strategy of "bankrupting the whalers" should already be seen as a farce because you can't bankrupt a program that's funded already by the government. You'd have better luck bankrupting the Japanese navy than you would their whale programs.
As to his resignation, that wasn’t forced. It was a brilliant move on the part of Paul Watson, to sidestep the 9th District order that they keep a large distance from whaling vessels. Since this is occurring in international waters, the ONLY jurisdiction the 9th can have is founded in that a U.S. citizen is in charge of that act. If Watson (the only U.S. leader) isn’t in any position within the organization, the order becomes moot. Watson was brilliant in that decision.
That is not correct, the 9th circuit court is upholding international law and they have universal jurisdiction. The specific items before the court involve issues of safety at sea under several international treaties such as SUA (Rome Convention) and UNCLOS. Though the US is not a signator to UNCLOS, they do support most of the provisions of that treaty including the portions on piracy. The US has far reaching power to extend jurisdiction to enforce these treaties and uphold their obligations under international law.
It is illegal to both interfere or attempt to interfere with the navigation of a vessel on the high seas under SUA. Both ramming and propfouling are arguably such interference’s. The specific wording of SUA is here, see Art. 3http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/conven/suppression1988.html
The specific US law that pertains to this is found in US Code, title 18, ss2280. Note the list of offences and the far reaching jurisdiction claimed by the US.http://uscode.regstoday.com/18USC_CHAPTER111.aspx#18USC2280
Too bad that very same jurisdiction dramatically fails when it comes to international regulations on marine life protection…
What are you talking about?
The US court obviously doesn’t have any jurisdiction over Japanese companies in Japanese vessels operating in international waters. Also what international regulations on marine life protection do you believe the court isn’t upholding?
No the order didn’t become moot when Watson stepped down. The SSCS is a US chartered organization, they claim the vessels on their annual US tax filings and list the costs of operations on maintenance of teh vessels in those same US tax documents. Thus the US courts have jurisdiction over the vessels no matter who is in charge or where they are operating. In fact if the US court sees this recent action as an attempt to circumvent the injunction they could hold the SSCS in contempt.
Actually, none of the vessels are owned by Sea Shepherd USA. They are owned by Sea Shepherd France, UK, and Australia.
All of which are seperate organizations.
The Lawyers have all this worked out after what happened when the Steve Irwin was arrested in Shetland.
…So Watson was stupid and the Japanese win! or the Whales and World lose!
I’ve been following Pete Bethune en Earthrace/Ady gil from the moment the boat was launched. Met Pete and crew, been aboard this magnificent spectacular vessel and never stopped following up on Pete… Trough time I learned tat Pete is a real straight forward standup bloke, PW on the other hand does not shy away from dodgy snake oil scheme’s to obtain his goal. The Ady Gil / Earthrace was deliberately sunk while towing because that yielded an underdog marketing position. Don’t get me wrong here, I do have a lot of respect for anyone out there on the water protecting marine life and environment, but I do regret that PW shamelessly abuses others (even if they have the same goals)to get whatever he wants. Note that the vessel (Ady Gil) was LEASED to sscs, also note that there would be no lawsuit if PW payed the 500K$ he still owed…. Now sscs looks at a 5 million claim. Way to go Paul.
He wasn't powering into the collision he was clearly struck, but you shouldn't stop a jet-ski in front of a cruise ship and expect the cruise ship to try to miss it.
We saw the collision! It was intentional! It was attempted murder no sane ships captain would play such a dangerous game especially with a tiny vessel dwarfed by the.whaling ship! They were adrift out of fuel! I dont particularly care for the man myself but he has dedicated his life to what he believes in . He walks the walk hes not just a protestor. And at the frontline of actually doing something about it instead of going on tv shows and simply running your mouth! If we were all that way this blue marble just might get a little better.
They were low on fuel not out, try and explain the prop wash from the Ady if you can, the man at the helm admitted he panicked and hit the throttle, it’s in the Maritime NZ report.
Is this the same Ady Gil who went with Pete bethune to the feroes and had beers with the killers and said how beautiful their knives were? The huge problem Ady has is that Pete Bethune was found to share the blame in the collison between the Ady and the Shonan. Ady paid Pete Bethune for the vessel. Pete admitted partial blame after maritime NZ released its report. And Pete Bethune is on camera making the decision to cut the Ady Gil free. This is just a stunt by an old guy who wants his face in the media for doing nothing. That's why Pete and Ady are such great mates.
So now Pete Bethune is blatantly lying to his supporters. The footage animal planet took of Pete deciding to cut the Ady free was taken before he actually cut her free. Not staged sometime later like Pete is now telling everyone. I was there. Pete is completely lying. Pete has a habit of blaming others for his actions. Oh Paul made me board the Shonan. Oh Paul made me sink my boat. Oh Paul made me harass the Japanese Whalers. Oh please what a douch. So much for honesty Pete.
Ady Gill should have had the foresight to know that something like this could happen to his boat when loaning it to a reckless group like Sea Shepard and their equally reckless leader Cap’n Paul Watson. I like see people like this eat their own. Well done, sir.
watson deserves whatever fid they shove in him. guys a hazard to navigation and imo a pirate to boot.
Lol @ several of the comments here. Read the NZM report on the collision, whoever hasn't. It's as close as you'll get to the facts of the collision and it coincides perfectly with available video evidence. I'll summerize, there's no evidence the collision was intentional, both captains are to blame, it's is clear that the $ea $hepherd vessel increased forward speed seconds before the collision, navigational equipment recovered from the m/v Ady Gil that might have shed light on the accident mysteriously disappeared before the $$C$ remaining fleet returned to port. As to the law suit, I'm perfectly happy to let the court decide if it has merit, that's what they do. If Watson thinks his shenanigans are going to prevent there being serious consequences in the event of a violated injunction, he has another think coming. The time is long past for contesting the court's jurisdiction. Al he is doing is making a charge of contempt more likely. But he has to find the Japanese first doesn't he? Don't worry ex"captain" Wat$on, I have a feeling they will find you!
I think that the Japs are entirely to blame for the ramming of the Ady Jil. They are fishing illegally in Australian waters and all measures should be used to stop them. Now that the Steve Irwin has water cannons to match the Japs, they should hook up a foam branch pipe and instead of hooking up a canister of blood and bone for foam, they should hook it to a canister of that smelly acid that they use to hose the Japs right dowm and stop the flenseing completely
"Institute of Cetacaen Research" vessels? Oh, you mean whale hunting ships.
By the tone of this article I take it there still are people out there who don’t care about the part where Paul Watson is trying to prevent the extinction of whales, or perhaps only give lip service to it.
Who crashed into the Ady Gil? The Japanese. Ady, you signed up for it, so go take your lawsuit to the Japanese whalers.