Our ship, the Arctic Sunrise, was deliberately rammed and
damaged by the Nisshin Maru, the factory ship of the Japanese
whaling fleet. Immediately after the ramming, the Nisshin Maru fled
from the "scene of the crime". However both the Arctic Sunrise and
the Esperanza are in pursuit with every intention of continuing to
peacefully protest the hunt.
Watch the video
Speaking from onboard the Arctic Sunrise, expedition leader
Shane Rattenbury said, "There is no way to describe this as
anything but a deliberate ramming which placed the safety of our
ship and the lives of our crew in severe danger." The Nisshin Maru
is more than twice as long and six times heavier than the Arctic
Sunrise. The impact has left the Sunrise "battered and bruised" but
luckily no crew members were injured.
Overnight the Nisshin Maru had been offloading accumulated whale
meat onto a supply vessel and early this morning our activists, in
inflatables, began to paint the words "whale meat from sanctuary"
on the side of the supply ship. This action in no way impeded the
transfer of the meat and the tiny inflatables did not represent a
threat to either vessel.
As the activists completed painting the slogan, the Nisshin Maru
suddenly disengaged from the supply vessel coming around a full 360
degrees before making for the Arctic Sunrise, which was less than a
mile away, and striking it on the port side. The captain of the
Sunrise tried to pull out of the way of the oncoming whaler.
Back on December 21, when the catcher ship the Kyo Maru bumped
the Esperanza, the Japanese Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR)
said "the same thing occurred five years ago when in 1999 another
collision occurred between Japan's research vessels and a
Greenpeace vessel".
However, it was the Nisshin Maru, not the Arctic Sunrise, which
was at fault for the collision in December 1999 also, as officially
recorded in the Lloyd's database (the international record of
maritime movements and casualties). International maritime law
states that "any vessel overtaking any other shall keep out of the
way of the vessel being overtaken."
Watch video of the incident:
We have repeatedly informed the whaling fleet and its
controlling organization in Tokyo, the Institute for Cetacean
Research, of our peaceful intentions and explained the purpose of
the protest against the hunt.
But despite the ramming, we are not going to be deterred. "No
amount of bullying or intimidation will prevent us from defending
the whales, nor from broadcasting images of the kills to the
world," said Shane.
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