This just in from Dave “Blather” Walsh, our correspondent on the high seas with Greenpeace:
“We’re in the middle of the remotest ocean on earth, where there’s very little shipping. Yet, there’s been three distress calls in the last week. First, Sea Shepherd – the rather extreme organisation who had two ships down here – issued a distress call, after two of their crew went missing during an attack on the whaling fleet’s factory ship, the Nisshin Maru. We were still on our way into ‘the zone’ at the time, and were powerless to help. The two people were later rescued.
A few days later came another distress call – this time from the Kaiko Maru, a Japanese “sighting” vessel used to survey whales for the harpoon boats. It claimed it was under attack – although the videos released leave it unclear whether it was Sea Shepherd’s ship the Robert Hunter ramming the Kaiko Maru, or the Kaiko Maru ramming the Robert Hunter (here’s some rather oblique video). Both parties have histories of rammings, and the video is ambigious.”
We answered the distress call – but were told by the Maritime Rescue Centre in NZ to hold on – till they figured out what was happening. We had visions of picking bodies out of the icy water – but the whole thing eventually simmered down, though there was considerable damage to both ships – the RH had a hole in it, and the Kaiko Maru complained about a damaged propeller.
Fast forward to yesterday morning, the 15th. At 5:45am, we got another distress call – this time from the Nisshin Maru – the very ship we were looking for. It’s the one that you see photos of, with dead whales lying on the deck, ready to be cut up and frozen.
We’re on our way to it at the moment, and won’t know really what’s going on till we arrive. The media reports are about as slopping as I’ve ever seen. But briefly – the ship was evacuated to smaller whaling vessels after a fire broke out in the whale meat processing plant. One 27-year old worker is missing, presumed dead. The 8000 tonne ship is without propulsion or electricity, and is reportedly tied up between two other ships.
Our #1 concern is with the crew of the Nisshin Maru. The ship is no longer a whaling ship – the whaling has now stopped. Our second is for the local environment. This is a pristine protected environment, as well as a whale sanctuary, and the Nisshin Maru is in the Ross Sea, less than 100 miles away the biggest Adelie penguin colony in the world. We’ve offered our services – the Esperanza is former fire-fighting vessel with towing capabilities. So far the Fisheries Agency of Japan has responded by calling us “terrorists”. They’re desperate not to loose face by having us, their agitators, come to the rescue.
Outside it’s snowing, and the wind is howling a force 6. If the weather doesn’t worsen, we’ll be at the Nisshin Maru tomorrow morning. Who knows what might happen then?
Here are some of Dave’s pictures from this current expedition, including plenty of whales, seals and penguins!