Posted on 01/15/2008 8:00:51 AM PST by Cecily
TWO anti-whaling campaigners were last night taken hostage and tied to a mast in freezing conditions after a high seas clash with Japanese whalers in the Antarctic.
The two crew members of the Sea Shepherd protest ship, Steve Irwin, Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane were tied to the radar mast of Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru after the pair tried to hand over a petition calling for an end to whaling.
The drama on the high seas unfolded shortly after 6.30pm when the two men tried to board the ship. A scuffle ensued before the pair was taken hostage and tied to the mast.
Captain of the Steve Irwin, Paul Watson said the two men were assaulted as they climbed aboard. "They tried to throw Benjamin overboard before they tied him up,'' Mr Watson said.
The pair boarded the ship after the Japanese crew failed to respond to radio contact from the Steve Irwin.
Last night's act of piracy came just hours after a landmark Federal Court ruling that ordered Japanese Government-backed whaler Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd out of the Australian Whale Sanctuary in Antarctic waters, ruling it unlawfully slaughtered and harmed "a significant number'' of minke, fin and humpback whales.
"Unless restrained it will continue to kill, injure, take and interfere with them, and treat and possess them,'' Justice Jim Allsop said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
“when the two men tried to board the ship”
You board a ship, you are not a hostage, you are a pirate.
I’d have thrown them over the side not tie to a mast. They got lucky.
What was that line in “Risky Business,” ‘Never f-— with another man’s livelihood.’
AAARRRRGGGG!!!!
They have no right to board another vessel. Their actions makes them pirates, hang them from the yardarm!
Don't F with Ahab-san.
Well all righty then, that makes piracy OK then.
But hang them from the yardarm anyway.
“Nobody moves or the white whale gets it”
“Hep me somebody, hep me!”
“The two crew members of the Sea Shepherd protest ship, Steve Irwin, Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane...”
There’s three kinds of people in this world: Those who can count, and those who can’t.
Yeap, even admirals before boarding a ship request permission to come aboard.
OH...the name of the ship is “Steve Irwin?
More coffee, please.
Steve Irwin is the name of the ship. That one caught me for a moment too.
Funny thing is that the Sea Shepard does fly the Skull and Cross bones, so it’s clear that the Japanese believed that they were beiing attacked by pirates and have the right to defend themselves against pirates.
hell, even the coast guard ask’s permission to board your vessel ( can any mudducks verify this? )
“Never rub another man's rhubarb.”
I think the “Steve Irwin” is the name of a ship. It’s confusing.
I wonder if they permission to use Irwin’s name?
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