Greenpeace rams Japanese whaler

Greenpeace has been spending much of its time lately chasing the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru, engaging in petty vandalism and attempts to adversely impact safety at sea for the Japanese ship. Today, they rammed the ship, apparently taking advantage of the much larger and less manuverable ship's inability to avoid the collision:

Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for the Japanese agency, the Institute for Cetacean Research, said the Arctic Sunrise had rammed the Nisshin Maru.

"They hit the bow of our vessel, put a hole in the Nisshin Maru and caused considerable damage," Mr Inwood said. "It's lucky no-one was killed."

It is the third time the Japanese have clashed with Greenpeace ships.

In 1999 the same two boats collided and in December a chaser nudged the larger Greenpeace ship Esperanza away from the stern of Nisshin Maru.

Of course, Greenpeace sees it differently:

The incident happened in calm Antarctic waters north of Prydz Bay as Mr Rattenbury was mid-interview with the Herald.

He described how the Nisshin Maru came around a supply ship it had loaded with whale meat, entering into a collision course towards Arctic Sunrise.

From about 300 metres, Nisshin Maru came at the port side of Arctic Sunrise, which under the rules of the sea had clear right of way. Its captain, Arne Sorensen, was sounding the ship's horn repeatedly. The factory ship's horn blared in reply.

Over the next minute, Captain Sorensen swung the helm away, and Mr Rattenbury seemed hopeful that the two ships would shift to a parallel course, but the black bow of the Nisshin Maru loomed ever closer.

"They're coming back," Mr Rattenbury said. "We're going to hit. We're going … Oh s---. This is going to hurt. Brace. The captain is calling for us to brace … "

A distinct metallic shudder rang through the telephone line.

"We're hit, right in the bow. The foremast appears to be bent … We're going to hit again."

The collision left Arctic Sunrise with a dented bow and nearly collapsed foremast, but the hull was not penetrated.

Fortunately there's a video posted by Greenpeace on their website. Here's the money quote from the Captain of the Artic Sunrise:

"The ship that has the other one on the starboard side has to give way. The Artic Sunrise was on the starboard side of the Nisshin Maru, therefore, I maintained my course and speed."

Not being an expert on maritime rules, I looked up what the rules are. This stuck out at me:

(b) In construing and complying with these Rules due regard shall be had to all dangers of navigation and collision and to any special circumstances, including the limitations of the vessels involved, which may make a departure from these Rules necessary to avoid immediate danger.

The Nisshin Maru is much larger and heavier than the Artic Sunrise (8000 tons vs. 949), and less able to manuver. The captain of the Artic Sunrise, on the other hand, had a responsibility to take action to avoid collision even if he had to ignore the rules to do so. And by his own admission, he chose to collide with the Japanese ship instead.

Greenpeace, as usual, is skating on razor thin ice here. They've been spending the last few weeks placing their ships in the way of the Japanese ships in order to impede their movements. They have vandalized the Japanese ships with paint. And all of this risky manuvering around other ships was done out in open water where there was never a good reason to operate in such close proximity.

Now I'm no fan of whaling, but environmental terrorism isn't the answer. No whales are worth risking human lives, and Greenpeace should know better. Next time they pull a stunt like this someone may get hurt or worse.