
Protest boat Ady Gil destroyed in collision with Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2. Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson has accused Japanese whalers of a high seas hit-and-run, disputing claims a collision with one of its speedboats was accidental. Six crew members aboard the $1.5 million anti-whaling ship the Ady Gil were rescued, one with broken ribs, after it and the Japanese whalers' ship the Shonan Maru 2 collided in remote Antarctic waters. The high-tech trimaran was sliced in half in the collision. Japan's Fisheries Agency has blamed The Ady Gil for the crash, saying it slowed suddenly while crossing in front of the Shonan Maru. But Mr Watson today labelled the claim ridiculous, saying the whaling ship deliberately rammed the boat in a high seas "hit and run". "The Ady Gil was stationary at the time it was struck," Mr Watson told Macquarie Radio. "The Shonan Maru did a quick turn and came in real fast, they were aiming for the cockpit, where the crew were, and fortunately we got the engines in reverse and backed up just enough so that the front of the ship was torn off instead of hitting the cockpit. "They were trying to sink the ship. We put out a mayday distress signal and the Japanese refused to respond - it was a hit and run really." Mr Watson said it would be impossible to salvage the Ady Gill, meaning a loss of $2 million for the Sea Shepherd organisation. A spokesman for the Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo, Glenn Inwood, contradicted Sea Shepherd's <b>...</b>
Ady Gil
Shonan Maru 2
Anti-Whaling
Whaling
Japanese
protesting