After a 26-day pursuit covering over 4,000 miles, the
Steve Irwin caught up with the
Nisshin Maru at 1800 hours on January 25th, 2011 AEST.
“We finally have this serial killing death ship where we want them, and from here on in, we intend to ride their ass until the end of the whaling season,” said Captain Paul Watson from onboard the
Steve Irwin. “This whaling fleet belongs to us now – lock, stock, and smoking harpoon gun.”
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ships the
Steve Irwin,
Bob Barker, and
Gojira originally found the Japanese whaling fleet on December 31st, 2010 before the whalers had an opportunity to kill a single whale. Unfortunately, two of the harpoon vessels blocked the approach to the
Nisshin Maru and the factory ship was able to flee with the faster harpoon vessels tailing the two larger Sea Shepherd ships to relay Sea Shepherd movements to the fleeing
Nisshin Maru. The
Gojira was prevented from immediately pursuing the Nisshin Maru due to risky ice conditions.
The
Gojira shot ahead of the
Steve Irwin and the
Bob Barker as the
Nisshin Maru fled westward. On January 10th, the
Gojira encountered the refueling and supply ship the
Sun Laurel. On January 12th, the
Bob Barker and the
Steve Irwin caught up with the tanker and began to tail the Korean-owned vessel allowing the
Gojira to continue westward in pursuit of the
Nisshin Maru.
The
Sun Laurel headed north and east to put as much distance between the factory ship and themselves as they could. The Sea Shepherd ships followed knowing it was essential to cut off the supplies to the whaling fleet. Two of the three harpoon vessels followed and for 23 days we had confirmation that these two vessels had not taken a single whale.
With the
Sun Laurel heading east and getting closer to Chile than New Zealand, Captain Watson seized an opportunity to break away and lose the tail, doing so on January 18th. The
Bob Barker continued to follow the
Sun Laurel with one harpoon vessel continuing to follow the
Bob Barker. The other harpoon vessel, having lost the
Steve Irwin, left to rejoin the
Nisshin Maru. ...