Submission + - Anti-Whaling Superboat Sinks in Antarctic
Hugh Pickens writes: "AFP reports that anti-whaling activists vowed to fight on after their high-tech superboat sank in Antarctic seas following a collision with a Japanese ship. The Sea Shepherd conservation group claims to have saved hundreds of whales by chasing the Japanese fleet over a six-year campaign as Japan hunts the animals using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium which allows "lethal research", defying regular protests from Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. Peter Hammarstedt, first officer of the Sea Shepherd group's "Bob Barker" ship, said the celebrated "Ady Gil" was abandoned in the Southern Ocean after a tow line snapped. "At this point unfortunately the Ady Gil is on the bottom of the Southern Ocean," says Hammarstedt. The futuristic trimaran, which held the round-the-world record, had several meters of its front end sheared off in the collision with a Japanese security vessel on Wednesday as footage of the incident showed the "Shonan Maru 2" ploughing across the New Zealand-registered Ady Gil's bow and firing water cannon while its crew dived for safety. "Last time we saw the Ady Gil, the entire engine room was fully submerged in water as well as the fuel tanks," says Hammarstedt. "It was going down pretty quickly. Captain Pete Bethune estimated two to three hours before being fully submerged. At that point we decided to take up the hunt for the whaling fleet again.""
