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The front of the Ady Gill is seen ripped open after its collision with Japanese whaling ship Shonan Maru 2 - Source: ONE News -
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The crew of the New Zealand trimaran harassing Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean had to be rescued after their boat was holed by Japanese ship Shonan Maru 2, in a collision.
The confrontation is thought to have happened in the area of Commonwealth Bay off the Adelie Coast of Antarctica.
The former Earthrace boat - now known as the Ady Gil - was captained by Aucklander Pete Bethune and had at least three other New Zealanders and an Australian and a Dutchman in its crew.
Bethune said before his departure he would not follow previous Sea Shepherd tactics and try to ram Japanese whalers.
The Ady Gil, a 24-metre carbon-fibre wave-piercing trimaran that
runs on low-emission, renewable fuels, was the latest addition to
the Sea Shepherd protest fleet.
The materials and paint on the boat made it difficult for radars to
detect, enabling it to sneak up on whaling vessels and disrupt the
hunt.
While there have been reports that the Ady Gill had been cut in half by the Japanese whaler, which was acting as a security vessel for the Japanese fleet, reports that the ship had sunk do not appear correct, though it had its bow sheared off in the incident and is taking on water.
The $1.5 million high-tech vessel's six-man crew had been rescued; one with broken ribs.
The Sea Shepherd says the Ady Gill had stopped in the path of the Japanese vessel, but was trying to get out of the way when the Japanese went straight for it.
The Sea Shepherd says while the actions of the Japanese are seen as desperate, the organisation would not abandon its crusade because "the whales are worth more to us than the ships are".
A Japanese Fisheries Ministry official declined to comment on the incident, saying it was still getting information.
Earlier in the day, the Japanese whaling fleet was contacted for the first time by the Ady Gil and Sea Shepherd's third vessel, the Bob Barker.
The Institute of Cetacean Research, which has previously fronted for the whalers, claimed the Ady Gil's crew were launching projectiles at a ship in the fleet, the Nisshin Maru, and attempted to entangle its propellers with rope.
"The research-base vessel Nisshin Maru, currently engaged in the Japanese whale research programme in the Antarctic ... was subject to attack today for about two hours by the New Zealand-registered watercraft Ady Gil," the institute says.
"In a manner similar to their 23 December attack on the Shonan Maru No. 2, at about (7am NZDT) the Ady Gil came to collision distance directly in front of the Nisshin Maru bow repeatedly deploying and towing a rope from its stern with the intent to entangle the Japanese vessel's rudder and propeller."
It says the crew of the New Zealand boat were also shining a green laser light and launching stinkbombs that smelled of rancid butter.
The Nisshin Maru started its water cannons "and proceeded to prevent the Ady Gil coming closer".
The institute claimed the activists' actions were "nothing but felonious behaviour" and potentially threatened the safety of Japanese sailors.
"In addition, their repeated deploying and abandonment of ropes designed to entangle the propeller of our navigating vessels ultimately ends up litter spoiling the Antarctic marine environment."
The Ady Gil was donated to the protest lobby by a Hollywood businessman.
