|MS Steve Irwin, Sam Simon, and Bob Barker crowding the tanker, well within the 500 metre Injunction distance.|
|MS Bob Barker close alongside the MT Sun Laurel while underway.|
|Impact the MS Bob Barker rams the MT Sun Laurel underway at sea. Insanity!|
The Sea Shepherd Australia Limited Director Brown needs to sit down and do some serious reading in Maritime Law before shooting off at the lip!! Most particularly those relative to the carriage of fuel at sea when in the Southern Ocean and the Injunction against the SSCS pirate group by the U.S. Ninth District Court. Once all that is clear in his mind he may make statements which hopefully will make more sense than those about the ramming incident he has made. Clearly he has no knowledge about seamanship or shiphandling or chooses not to use it in blind limited leadership of the cult formed around Paul Watson.
February 22, 2013 (NZ time zone)
In a statement regarding the incident between the JWF vessels and the SSCS/SSAL vessels the JWF has issued their report. NAUTICAL LOG believes that to professional seafarers it makes more seamanship sense than the SSCS/SSAL pirate group version of the events in the International Waters of the Southern Ocean. Summarizing several sources we quote:
"Japanese whalers say Sea Shepherd crews sabotaged a refuelling process in the Southern Ocean causing several collisions. The ICR has responded to claims by the anti-whaling group that a Japanese whaling ship collided with two of their vessels. ICR says two Sea Shepherd ships made 'foolhardy obstruction attempts' repeatedly coming within close quarters of the MS Nisshin Maru and its supply tanker. It says the SSCS/SSAL Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Sam Simon vessels 'provoked several collision' and the MS Nisshin Maru sustained minor damage.........decided to interrupt the refuelling operation due to the 'extremely dangerous behaviour' of the Sea Shepherd vessels. The ICR denies allegations there was oil spillage during the refuelling process."
NAUTICAL LOG believes that professional seafarers would tend to believe this report rather than that of the SSCS/SSAL pirate group however this incident is subject to an Investigation and Inquiry. Who will do so? It does not seem that Australia with all its maritime territorial claims in the Region is willing to follow up, as required by International Maritime Law, in its position as the Flag State of some of the SSCS/SSAL pirate ships and the Port State of others. One thing clear in both versions is that the SSCS/SSAL pirate group vessels failed to observe the 500 metre seperation distance required in the Injunction issued by the U.S. Ninth District Court, Paul Watson stated earlier this would be observed during the 2013 Southern Ocean whaling season. Once again demonstrating his complete lack of personal honour and the complete lack of keeping his word.
There usually are at least two points of view to most things that happen in life. Bearing this in mind NAUTICAL LOG has added two links on MY BLOG LIST they are the Sea Shepherds and the Institute of Cetacean Research. Both are involved as most of us know in an environmental struggle over whaling in the Southern Ocean. This year the Sea Shepherds have been trying to play legal games with their four ships which are supposedly being operated from Sea Shepherd Australia Limited. From what recently happened in the Southern Ocean one might well be justified to think that the operating intelligence is what is limited.
In International Waters in a latitude where refuelling at sea is legal under International Maritime Law the Japanese Whale Factory ship MS Nisshin Maru was attempting to refuel from the MT Sun Laurel. Incredible as it might seem to professional seafarers at least two (2) SSCS/SSAL pirate ships rammed the MS Nisshin Maru apparently causing an impact between the Japanese ship and the tanker. The ramming of vessels on the High Seas, which SSCS pirate vessels have done in the past, is asinine the ramming involving a loaded tanker is maritime insanity. Both sides have video which one can review and decide the actuality of these events for themselves.
According to the report from the SSCS/SSAL pirate fleet the 8000+ GT MS Nisshin Maru rammed the SSCS/SSAL 801 tonne MS Bob Barker and also the SSCS/SSAL 885 GT MS Steve Irwin. It boggles the mind to try and figure out how this huge lumbering floating abattoir could manoeuvre to accomplish this. The more likely scenario is that the two SSCS/SSAL pirate ships closed in on the Japanese Whaling Fleet (JWF) and did the ramming that occurred as they have in the past seasons. Now the supposedly resigned head of SSCS is still on board the MS Steve Irwin and captaining the MS Bob Barker is his prime sycophant. This genius shiphandler following years of programming by "Wats-his-name" managed to punch a hole in the vessels hull plating and as a result is reported to have a flooding engine-room. Of course "Wats-his-name" still on board the MS Steve Irwin and clearly in charge of the overall anti-whaling operation, in spite of supposedly resigning, is protecting himself. Cleverly "Wats-his-name" has a captain appointed in command so that if anything does go wrong this individual takes the blame. As we know "Wats-his-name" has no word of honour so his statements are meaningless, and his reports flamboyant bombastic nonsense First he jumped bail in Germany and is an international fugitive, secondly he stated he would obey the Injunction handed down by the U.S. Ninth District Court to remain 500 metres away JWF vessels, clearly he did not.
It is hard to believe that he did so and the lumbering MS Nisshin Maru chased down two faster and far more maneuverable SSCS/SSAL pirate ships to ram them, this all in the middle of a refuelling operation on the High Seas. It now appears that according to the SSCS/SSAL later reports the MS Sam Simon was also involved in this nautical fracas. If you still believe the word of SSCS/SSAL and "Wats-his-name" you can only be a die-hard SSCS/SSAL supporter who still believes the Earth is flat and any point of view in this Post will not interest you. The rest of us professional seafarers however are looking at all this with a jaundiced eye and even though we abhor whaling NAUTICAL LOG cannot condone the SSCS/SSAL violent tactics of maritime piracy to prevent that whaling.
A final point is that if Australia claims authority over this section of International Waters as it keeps stating and the Legal Right to prosecute the JWF it must, as has been requested by the Australian Opposition envoronment spokesperson, sent an Australian Customs vessel or better still a couple of Australian Navy vessels with a Federal Police team on board to fully investigate. At the same time those police could remove and detain Paul Watson, who is an International Fugitive, under the authority of the Interpol Red Notice from the SSCS/SSAL ship he is aboard. This would require some guts however which is sadly lacking in many of today's Australians it seems from their actions, which the SSCS/SSAL knows and is playing with to make the Australian Government look foolish.