Ok guys, just a quick update on the Ady Gil, part of the Sea Shepherd’s arsenal against Illegal Whale Hunters and now home to a bunch of Acer computers.

I’ve been receiving daily updates from the captain of Ady Gil, Pete Bethune and thought you’d like to share them.

If this seems off-topic, well it isn’t. It’s a cause I support (through this blog), it’s a place where Acer computers are used to coordinate operations and report on progress, and more importantly it concerns something we as a global society should ask ourselves whether we’re prepared to ignore. These guys aren’t and have put their lives on the line to stop it and for that alone they’re damned heroes.


These videos show the coolest boat in the world doing stuff we on dry land might not grasp, unless of course you managed to watch Animal Planet’s Whale Wars series, then you’ll know exactly what’s going on.

Anyway, as I mentioned, Pete’s been sending me updates, and as this is the best way to understand what they’re going through, and this is the best medium to share it with you, I thought I’d publish the best of them, without editing anything…

Here’s the first encounter with the Whalers. Trust me, it’s worth reading:

Captains Blog 10. The first skirmish

“It’s right up our arse Pete”, Jason yells. There’s genuine fear in his voice for the first time.” Throttle hard now bro.” His voice trails off, and he watches the giant whaling vessel loom over our stern. Water smashes in on us from the remotely controlled canon mounted on their bow, and for a moment, it drowns out even even the LRADs.

It was some four hours ago, and under the cloak of darkness that Lawrence and I transferred onto the Steve Irwin for a quick meeting with Paul Watson and his officers. The boat was much smaller than I’d imagined. But it’s like a rabbit warren, with many levels and rooms all tucked away. “I want you to go and harass that vessel following us”, Paul had said to us. “Do whatever you can.” A quick hot chocolate later and we’re back on Ady Gil, lining up a whaling vessel for the first time.

The Shonun Maru is actually an ex whaling vessel. These days the harpoon has been replaced by a water canon, and she simply runs security detail for the main whaling fleet… and for the last week, she’s been trailing the Steve Irwin, making it impossible for Sea Shepherd to harass any of the genuine whalers.

It is just getting light as we start sneaking up on the Shonun Maru, her sleek form gradually emerging from the darkness. There’s a certain sinister air about these vessels. In part I guess because of how much I hate their activities. She is sliding past, maybe just four hundred metres away, and the crew are all silent. Suddenly she stops and turns. For a few moments she is almost stationary, looking at us, and evaluating what to do. Then there’s a puff of ugly smoke and she’s chasing us. It reminds me of a hunting dog in fact, aggressive and calculating.

For several minutes she circles, then she comes steaming right in on our stern. As we increase speed, the Shonun Maru matches us all the way up to twenty knots, before we finally pull away. The gap increases to over a hundred metres, and she eventually veers away. There’s an indignant air about her as she turns back towards the Steve Irwin, maybe preferring a quarry she can catch.

We start chasing her instead, but the relentless waves come crashing over the top, covering Jimmy and Mike, now cowering on the back deck. Into the waves like this, Ady Gil bombards your senses. The cabin goes dark, as wave after wave come whooshing over you. It takes a while to catch back up with the Shonun Maru. We come in alongside, and I get my first look at her crew. Hardened Security men (Lab Technicians) glare down at us from behind their flak jackets, LRADs and water canons.

Jimmy pulls out the new laser and starts shining this at the crew. In fact Paul had only handed this over to us a few hours earlier, so its a new tactic for the team. The Scientists though seem relatively unfazed by the light as we try to shine it in their eyes. An occasional one looks away, but for the most part they just continue to glare down at us defiantly. By now they are bombarding us with water canons and LRADs, and if I thought wavepiercing shocked your senses, try this.

The battle continues for some three hours, before we finally line up to deploy the prop fouler. It’s a terrifying feeling putting your boat on the line in front of a 60m harpooner. What makes it more difficult is the astonishing speed and maneuverability of our quarry. It means you need to get incredibly close and cross directly in front of them to have any chance of snaring their props. Which is terrifying indeed.

As we line them up, Jason calls distances. “Throttle hard bro”, Jason yells urgently, as we start to cross their bow. I’ve got our FLIR infra red camera looking astern and the giant vessel engulfs the image. The screen then suddenly goes blank as their water canon hits us from above. I can hear yelling from the stern, but over the LRADs and water its impossible to tell what’s happening.

“Its going to be real close”, Jason says for the second time. “Oooohhhhhh.” A slight hint of relief in his voice? “F**k was that close”.

Mike and Jimmy drag themselves inside. They look wet, cold and exhausted, but there’s also a hint of anger in them. I can tell the prop fouler never worked. And it means we’ve failed. FOR NOW at least.

Captains Blog by Acer

For more of Pete’s updates, head over to Lingolook site, where I’ve published them all.