Posted on 01/06/2010 9:09:19 AM PST by jazusamo
A conservation group's boat had its bow sheared off and was in danger of sinking as it took on water Wednesday after it was struck by a Japanese whaling ship in the frigid waters of Antarctica, the group said.
The boat's six crew members were safely transferred to another of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's vessels, the newly commissioned Bob Barker. The boat is named for the American game show host who donated $5 million to buy it.
The clash was the most serious in the past several years, during which the Sea Shepherd has sent vessels into far-southern waters to try to harass the Japanese fleet into ceasing its annual whale hunt.
Clashes using hand-thrown stink bombs, ropes meant to tangle propellers and high-tech sound equipment have been common in recent years, and crashes between ships have sometimes occurred.
The society said its vessel Ady Gil a high-tech speedboat that resembles a stealth bomber was hit by the Japanese ship the Shonan Maru near Commonwealth Bay and had about 10 feet (three meters) of its bow knocked off.
Locky Maclean, the first mate of the society's lead ship, said one crewman from New Zealand appeared to have suffered two cracked ribs, but the others were uninjured. The crew members were safely transferred to the group's third vessel, though the Ady Gil's captain remained on board to see what could be salvaged, he said.
"The original prognostic was that it was sinking, but at this point it is flooded with water but it seems to still have a bit of buoyancy," Maclean told The Associated Press by satellite phone from the ship, the Steve Irwin.
The group accused the Japanese ship of deliberately ramming the Ady Gil.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
These mental defective “conservationists” are all terminally retarded. They put themselves in the path of danger, and they expect to be rescued and praised for their asinine imbecility. What thety deserve, is to have been Rachael Corried. They are all deserving future Darwin Award winners.
Maybe the next time these fools pull this crap, they’ll all get drowned, and the world will have a few less morons to deal with.
“The Sierra Club is no longer a conservation organization”
When were they ever a conservative organization? I joined them 34 years ago when I was 16, paid a $15 membership fee and went to one meeting. Not one person introduced themselves to me or even said hello. The entire crowd was 60’s hippies and the discussion topics were nothing but updates of the club’s actions against developers via the zoning process.
Im my naivete I thought they were an outdoor club.
Poaching is tantamount to stealing. You can only “poach” in someone else’s territorial waters. This was the open sea. Free to all.
Honestly, what did they expect when there running aroung looking like this...Jolly Roger and all.
Under both Admiralty law and international laws of the high seas.
Having been warned verbally, acoustically, and visually (firehoses), not flying a flag, clearly trying to foul their rudder and other illegal/dangerous acts, the Japanese vessel, by law, could have machinegunned the boat and sunk it with lethal firepower.
Had this been a boat that I had chartered, my Barrett .50 cal. would be assembled and fired. Being left adrift, disabled, miles from port by an aggressive advisary requires justifiable self-defense, up to and including lethal self defense. The high seas, esp. the South Seas is NO place for games.
No argument. The Japanese should have taught them a lesson in Newtonian physics long ago.
Please don’t think I was criticizing. This story should be enjoyed by as many FReepers as possible.
No, No. I didn’t mean it to sound like I thought you were criticising, I knew you weren’t. I meant to also say I thought it was a funny story.
I left the below comments:
> Youtube view from Bob Barker,
Awww, Bobo fall down go boom!
> And the view from the Japanese ship
That’ll buff right out.
No worries. Let’s snicker some more.
I get it, its kinda like the guys who bomb abortion clinics because they think abortion is wrong. I understand and ‘GO YOU GUYS AND GALS’/s
why ?
International treaty which bans taking of whales permits this so called “research”. Change the law if you are agin’it.
The enviro wackjobs are assaulting the whalers. So far the whalers have shown restraint.
The enviro wackjobs are are escalting this not the whalers.
Its only a matter of time before the wackjobs get killed.
After you factor in the movement of the Bob Barker which was crossing the bow of the whaler and the sudden acceleration and slight left turn of the eco-boat, you have a different story ...
The hippies boat was almost motionless and would have been missed until it accelerated and the whaler veered to port to try to avoid the hippies ill considered tactic.
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