Sea Shepherd Captain Held Onboard Japanese Whaling Vessel

K

Kirrimir

Adventurer
At 0630 Hours, Sea Shepherd Captain Peter Bethune of the vessel Ady Gil, which was sunk by the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru 2, boarded the whaling ship to conduct a citizen’s arrest of the skipper of the Shonan Maru 2.
Captain Bethune boarded the whaling ship under cover of darkness from a Jet Ski as the Shonan Maru 2 was traveling at 14 knots in the Southern Ocean. His first attempt failed when he fell into the frigid waters, but despite this the crew of the Shonan Maru 2 failed to see him and he successfully boarded the whaler without detection.
Captain Bethune’s breaching the security of the whaling fleet security vessel remained undetected for one and a half hours.
At 0800 Hours, once the sun had risen, Captain Bethune calmly knocked on the bridge wing door, entered the wheelhouse, and presented himself to the Captain of Shonan Maru 2 where he informed the skipper that he was under arrest for the sinking of the Sea Shepherd ship Ady Gil on January 6th, 2010.
All radio communications with Peter Bethune ceased at 0805. The Shonan Maru 2 did acknowledge that Bethune was onboard.
The Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Bob Barker continue to pursue the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru eastward across the Southern Ocean. The ships are presently south of Australia’s Heard Island.
(source: http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-...-100215-2.html)

Once on board the captain said:
"I am here to arrest you. I am requesting that you transfer now to the Steve Irwin, where we will take you into custody, and we will deliver you to the Maritime Safety Authority and the New Zealand Police once we reach Wellington (New Zealand)."

"If you refuse to be arrested, then I am requesting that you deliver me to Wellington (New Zealand). Having sunk my vessel, and with our issuing of a mayday call, you have an obligation under maritime law to provide me with safe passage back to land."

"I will refuse to be handed over to any Sea Shepherd vessel. I will also refuse to be handed over to any New Zealand or Australian Coastguard, Customs or Naval vessel. I will only leave the Shonan Maru when you transfer with me to the Steve Irwin, or when we arrive on land, be it New Zealand or Australia."

"I am enclosing an invoice for US$3m, representing the new replacement cost of the Ady Gil. You are responsible for the collision and as such, you are also responsible for paying for its replacement."

"I commit to you that while I am on your vessel, that I will not impede or disrupt your crew and their activities."

Full Letter and the invoice can be read here: http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-...-100215-1.html

for those of you who don't know about the sea shepherd, i give thee these links (nsfw site btw).

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/02/1 ... t-captain/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/01/0 ... th-piracy/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/02/1 ... res-three/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/02/1 ... ing-boats/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/01/0 ... h-whalers/
in no particular order.
 
Lol, what is to stop the Japanese ship just dropping him off in Japan when they return to port and telling him to stuff his demands? What could he do then?
 
Good for him. Has anyone seen the results of any of this Japanese whale 'research' yet? Why the international community does nothing while they hunt endangered species (Sperm, Fin and Sei whales) is beyond me.
 
Re: Sea Shepherd Captain Held Onboard Japanese Whaling Vesse

Kirrimir said:
Captain Bethune boarded the whaling ship under cover of darkness from a Jet Ski as the Shonan Maru 2 was traveling at 14 knots in the Southern Ocean.
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This is too awesome. I just want to know when the anime version is scheduled for.
 
Re: Sea Shepherd Captain Held Onboard Japanese Whaling Vesse

ilmaestro said:
Kirrimir said:
Captain Bethune boarded the whaling ship under cover of darkness from a Jet Ski as the Shonan Maru 2 was traveling at 14 knots in the Southern Ocean.
Click to expand...
This is too awesome. I just want to know when the anime version is scheduled for.
Click to expand...
lol! I would applaud if one of the more progressive anime directors really did decide to produce an anti-whaling anime though.
 
ayase said:
Good for him. Has anyone seen the results of any of this Japanese whale 'research' yet? Why the international community does nothing while they hunt endangered species (Sperm, Fin and Sei whales) is beyond me.
Click to expand...

The anti-whaling regulations are absurd though. The Japanese 'hunt' no more than the population can take without being damaged. Furthermore, research indicates that the whale populations that are hunted are generally healthy.

The Japanese have a tradition of hunting whales and using them for their blubber, meat and oil.
 
CitizenGeek said:
The Japanese have a tradition of hunting whales and using them for their blubber, meat and oil.
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Didn't we also used to have a pretty massive whaling industry, which was probably considered traditional at the time? Arguments based on whale numbers I'm willing to entertain (though I really don't think a species which is in an endangered bracket, as the three kinds of whale I mentioned are, should be hunted - no one claims that Minke Whales are endangered however), but with all due respect, anyone who does something simply because it's 'tradition' can take those traditions and shove them right up their arse.
 
Well I wish it were that easy. But it isn't; it's a part of Japanese culture, and as long as they are not harming anything to any great degree, I see no reason why they should stop. It's not like the Japanese state is irresponsible or unstable. They are perfectly capable of regulating whale populations to ensure they don't become extinct. It's not in their interests to let that happen anyway.
 
CitizenGeek said:
...it's a part of Japanese culture.
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It has been a part of Japanese culture since they started hunting whales, and it can cease being a part of Japanese culture if they decide to stop. I don't imagine Hello Kitty used to be a part of Japanese culture, now it is. Culture changes, and the very idea of 'tradition' is a fallacy. People started traditions, people can stop them. 'Because our society has done this for a long time' is not really a legitimate reason for doing anything, it's just a good excuse for those who want to continue. For a good few thousand years, it was traditional for people of many cultures to keep other human beings as slaves. After some fairly serious opposition, the decision was finally taken to stop that practice for the greater good. So it was more recently with cruel bloodsports here in the UK. So I believe it should be with hunting endangered species.
 
South park did an awesome episode on this. Series 13 : Whale whores. Stan decided the ones trying to stop the whaling were wimps so took over and started sinking Japanese ships :p
 
CitizenGeek said:
The Japanese have a tradition of hunting whales and using them for their blubber, meat and oil.
Click to expand...
Human beings have an ancient tradition of caving in the head of anyone who might be after their wife/possessions/food with a large rock, how about we make that legal again?
 
Back before the days of global media and instant wireless communications they could have simply turfed him off the stern and said 'sorry, never saw him'.

And anyway, little boats have to give way to big boats. They ran into the side of the whaling ship.

Its such a shame the French owned up to sinking the Rainbow Warrior. Still, respect to them for doing it ;)
 
ilmaestro said:
Human beings have an ancient tradition of caving in the head of anyone who might be after their wife/possessions/food with a large rock, how about we make that legal again?
Click to expand...

How many more people want to make this useless point?

Slavery is bad. Slavery was a tradition among many cultures. Therefore traditions are bad. That's exactly what you're saying and it's complete nonsense ;]

Customs and traditions are not automatically bad just because some are bad. If you'll just ground yourself in reality for one moment you'll realise that traditions and customs ... kind of .... sort of ... define the identities of billions of people around the world. Most humans consider the traditions and customs of their people and their heritage to be important and meaningful. But hey, just get over it, right?
 
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