This is the sort of crap that Israel has to put up with. Aggression provokes a strike-back and then the attacked party is blamed for striking back — with the reliable collusion of a Green/Left media, of course. The whole episode was a blatant setup. The vessel rammed was a highly maneuverable diesel-powered (biodiesel, of course) trimaran that could easily have skated out of the way of the monohulled Japanese ship. They were only rammed because they wanted to be rammed. They want to be seen as the victims rather than the aggressors that they really are. It’s just another Greenie PR stunt. The report below is from the Murdoch media, so gives some balance
SEA Shepherd captain Paul Watson today accused Japanese whalers of a high seas hit-and-run, disputing claims a collision with one of its speedboats was accidental. Six crew members aboard the anti-whaling ship Ady Gil were rescued, one with broken ribs, after it and the Japanese whalers’ ship the Shonan Maru 2 collided in remote Antarctic waters. The high-tech trimaran was ripped apart in the collision.
Japan’s Fisheries Agency has blamed the Ady Gil for the crash, saying it slowed suddenly while crossing in front of the Shonan Maru.
But Mr Watson today labelled the claim ridiculous, saying the whaling ship deliberately rammed the boat in a high seas “hit and run”. “The Ady Gil was stationary at the time it was struck,” Mr Watson said on Macquarie Radio. “The Shonan Maru did a quick turn and came in real fast, they were aiming for the cockpit, where the crew were, and fortunately we got the engines in reverse and backed up just enough so that the front of the ship was torn off instead of hitting the cockpit. “They were trying to sink the ship. We put out a mayday distress signal and the Japanese refused to respond - it was a hit and run really.”
Mr Watson said it would be impossible to salvage the Ady Gil, meaning a loss of $2 million for the Sea Shepherd organisation.
A spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo, Glenn Inwood, contradicted Sea Shepherd’s account of the incident. “The (Ady Gil) skipper put the boat into full sting to try to cut the Shonan Maru off,” he said on ABC Radio. “You can see that the Shonan Maru is moving to the port to try and avoid a collision and there’s no avoiding the collision with the Ady Gil. “It’s a fast boat, she heads off full steam in front of it and miscalculates. So it’s no wonder that it came to the grief that it has.”
Asked if the environmental group would press charges against the whalers, Mr Watson said: “There’s no law down here, there’s no way to bring charges against anybody. “Japan does what it wants, where it wants. They’re killing these whales in violation of international law. And if they were to injure or kill any of us, their government will justify and defend their actions.”
Before leaving, Captain Pete Behune said he was planning to take the fight right to the harpoon vessels. “We will be on the fleet the whole time. Once we engage them, every day we’ll be looking to mess them over,” Bethune said. “My first job is to get my boat down there and get my crew down there and back safely and look at the risk.”
Mr Watson again called on the Federal Government to send naval ships to stop the whalers exploiting the southern ocean whale sanctuary, which falls in Australia’s Antarctic Territory waters. “Peter Garrett promised before he was elected that he would come down here and stop the illegal Japanese whaling activities - we’re still waiting for him to do so,” Mr Watson said.
But the Japanese Fisheries Agency hit back in a statement, accusing the Ady Gil of causing the collision. “These acts of sabotage that threaten our country’s whaling ships and crew were extremely dangerous,” it said. “It is totally unforgivable.”
Environment Minister Peter Garrett yesterday said he had no plans to send a vessel to police the situation, instead calling on both parties to exercise restraint.
Japan aims to slaughter nearly 1000 minke whales this summer as well as 20 rare fin whales and 50 humpbacks. “They are becoming increasingly desperate,” Mr Watson said yesterday. “This is a war. It’s a war to save the whales and it just got a lot uglier.”
Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here
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10 users commented in " Japanese ship falsely accused of ramming anti-whaling vessel "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackjonjayray: The appropriate way to refer to the Captain of the Ady Gil is as “Captain,” not “Mr.” You’re letting your basest prejudices show.
And what kind of a ridiculous headline is that?
Again, your prejudice shows. But I guess that’s the point of the whole article.
So you think it’s fine for any ship (Japanese included) to illegally hunt and kill whales?
And why on earth would you think that the CAPTAIN of a 2 million dollar vessel would allow it to be hit and sunk and his crew injured or possibly killed just to make a point? Come on. Get real.
If you want to attack the left in a less ridiculous way you’ll have to work a lot harder than this.
Captain isn’t just a rank or title, it is a way of behavior peculair to the sea. Most times, the crew members on a vessel do not have a choice of whether or not to obey the captain’s orders. Strict obediance to orders by a superior are obeyed first and questioned later. That term is written into most maritime crew contracts one way or another.
On the other end, the Captain has an obligation to obey the rules of the sea and the number one rule is to protect his ship and the lives of his crew. Seafarers have been sailing by those rules for a long long time.
The sea shepheard captain may be a captain by rank, but from his behavior, not a Captain. There is a difference.
“The (Ady Gil) skipper put the boat into full sting to try to cut the Shonan Maru off,” he said on ABC Radio. “You can see that the Shonan Maru is moving to the port to try and avoid a collision and there’s no avoiding the collision with the Ady Gil. “It’s a fast boat, she heads off full steam in front of it and miscalculates. So it’s no wonder that it came to the grief that it has.”
Not true. I have some photos of the sort of wake that the AG causes when under power and there is no way that it was under any sort of power when it was hit.
The photos are at http://waitakerenews.blogspot.com/2010/01/earthraces-wake.html
Besides the Shonan Maru is clearly moving to the left into the AG. You just have to watch the video shot from the Sea Shepherd. A link is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbuq0YEIPNU
Why don’t you analyse the evidence?
So you really think the CAPTAIN allowed his ship to be rammed or caused it to be rammed.
What a bunch of hooey! Oh yes! Let’s all stand up and defend international killers - the whale hunters. (Not)
Good morning m2c. I saw a video last nite that seems to show the Japanese ship deliberatly ram the smaller boat. But it doesn’t look like they tried to get out of the way .
Hi, chatstu! Good to “see you” and Happy New Year!
I just find it so hard to believe that a Captain would let his ship go down and endanger the lives of his crew like that. And I don’t know - technically - what is entailed in trying to get out of the way.
Frankly, if that Japanese ship was illegally hunting whales I’d have been perfectly happy if someone had shot a couple of torpedoes at it! lol! (sort of - not really).
So after all this hullabaloo I’m waiting to hear about the OTHER important factor here which is what punishment is the Japanese ship going to face for illegally hunting whales?
I agree with you . The excuse they do it for scientific research is bogus. I think its more a culture thing and they do eat whale. The Japanese gov seems to be softening up but they have a long way to go and are so very arrogant. I think the rest of the world just needs to cut them off. And a happy new year to you too.
Whale isn’t all that bad, tasty and not as chewy in character as a surf clam. The Japanese should get out from behind the “research” justification and just be comfortable with saying, “whale is a traditonal food and we like it” It isn’t like they sponsored the fleets of the late seventeenth century and through the eighteenth which did so much damage. Whale is a food source like any other and might be more viable than say, tuna. Just as well, the population is down, their habit of cruising along the surface doensn’t work well with modern merchant ship lookout standards. Eat ‘em or they’ll be roadkill doesn’t exactly roll off the lips though.
I dont know why you would write a story like this when obviously you have NOT looked at the footage. The circumstances ar that the Adi Gill was extremely low on fuel, The crew had cut the engines and went above deck to wave goodbye to their other Ship as it was leaving to follow the Japanese WHALING FLEET while the Adi Gil floated stationary waiting for the Steve Irwin to bring it more fuel in a few hours. While they were drifting the Japanes ship TURNED AROUND and came toward them. There had been another harpoon vessel that had previously did a drive by before they cut the engines and had turned away at the last minute so they were unbder teh impression that the Shonan Maru 2 was going to do the same thing. UNfortunately at the last moment which was the point the other ship had turned away, the Shonan Maru 2 did the opposite and turned INTO the Adi Gil There was NO WAY to react in that sudden of a move. Watch the footage and stop being a Yellow Journalist. You are what is wrong in this world. Lies, Manipulation of the truth and propagation of blatant lies and untruths in order to confuse or misinform individuals who do not know the truth or are not inclined to seek it out. I suspect you are a Japanese blogger who is mascarading as an american in order to give people the impression that we are so ignorant that we would by into thses lies,It is also absurd to think that we in ANY way would support such a hainus action as to intentionally ram another vessel with a total disregard for the well being of the crew aboard the vessel. You should be ashamed of your propaganda and your lack of ethics. May god forgive your arogance and lack of character.
im a student and i think the japs r get away with this our gov should put a stop 2 it they make new zealand look like push overs
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