On January 6, 2010 the newest vessel in the Sea Shepperd’s anti-whaling fleet was involved in a collision with a Japanese vessel and lost to sea. The Sea Shepperd’s ‘Ady Gil’ entered the path of the Japanese ‘Shōnan Maru 2′, which was engaged in security and support for the whaling fleet, and was unavoidably struck on her port side near her bow. Both groups took footage of the incident and claims that the other is responsible, arguing that the opposing skipper took unnecessary, dangerous maneuvers. Fortunately no-one was killed as a result of the accident, however one of the Ady Gill’s crew members sustained a rib injury. Despite the lack of legal action taken place since, analysis done by Captain Jim Varney, an experienced maritime accident investigator and Captain Tim Wilson from the New Zealand Maritime School agreed that the Ady Gil was accelerating when it was hit by the Japanese ship and moved into the Japanese boat’s path. Check out a video of the analysis here .

Before the collision, the Ady Gil harassed Japanese whaling vessels during their operations. The crew had towed ropes in an attempt to foul the propellers of the Japanese ships, and permanently disabling them in dangerous and isolated seas. They pointed newly acquired photonic disruptors at the crew of the Shōnan Maru 2 while using a projectile launcher to fire capsules of foul-smelling butyric acid created from rotten butter.

The Ady Gil was originally known as ‘The Earthrace Vessel’ was originally created as part of a project to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat. It featured several environmentally friendly features, could run on both regular diesel fuel and bio-diesel, and was constructed of ‘green’ building materials. This wasn’t the ships first controversial accident in 2007 was ill-fated. The boat several times encountered mechanical problems, and collided with a Guatemalan fishing boat, killing one of the other boat’s crew.

The injury of the Sea Shepperd Crew member is no big surprise. The SSCS has a long history of placing their volunteer members at risk through their lack of maritime knowledge and incompetence. During trips to the Southern Ocean in a non-ice grade vessel, Captain Paul Watson ordered inexperienced and inadequately equipped deckhands down below into a near inescapable rope locker in an attempt to control any flood waters that may rush in if the ship were to be punctured by ice. During the previous anti-whaling mission the captain ordered the launch of the inflatable craft while traveling in rough whether at full speed, where the launching cable snapped causing the craft to flip over, tossing the crew against the ship and into the frigid antarctic waters. Captain Watson is also to blame by Nyles Bauer, former crew member for not compensating him injuries sustained while on a hunger strike.

This is not the Sea Shepherds first collision at sea. The Sea Shepperd’s claim responsibility for the sinking of several Icelandic and Nordic whaling vessels. heir previous ship, the Farley Mowat was involved in a collision with the Canadian Coast Guard, who threatened legal action if they entered Canadian waters. The crew of course returned and was arrested in the Canadian Gulf of St. Lawrence while claiming they were in international waters. They were fined $100,000 and had their vessel impounded and then sold for a mere $5000 as a garbage scow. Their flagship vessel the Steve Irwin was previously involved in a collision with another Japanese Vessel, however no severe damage or injuries were sustained.

Links:
3news – http://www.3news.co.nz/Experts-Ady-Gil-tried-to-cross-Japanese-ships-bow/tabid/417/articleID/136461/Default.aspx
3news video – http://www.3news.co.nz/Experts-Ady-Gil-tried-to-cross-Japanese-ships-bow/tabid/313/articleID/136461/Default.aspx
Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ady_Gil
Official Earthrace website – http://www.earthrace.net/