What both sides want is for you to look at a 30 sec video and understand all that is going on. It has been pointed out that you can hear crew members warn to be ready, put on your helmets ... Well, if you saw you were going to hit another ship, be it on purpose or not, would you not be warning your ship mates to be ready? Don't be stupid, the simple comments only prove they knew it was eminent. When I was in the navy we were hit while in port by a merchant pulling out. We saw it happening and the alarms started and we "braced for impact", but we did not cause it, we were docked. So simple comments of alarm prove nothing. What this video does show is that the Steve Irwin was following directly behind the factory ship, as has been stated in their press release. If they are directly behind the ship, then from what direction would you say the harpoon ship came from? The only way to show who was cutting who off is to provide about 10 mins of video showing where each ship came from. But judging by the positions shown on this video, the harpoon vessel was attempting to cut in front of the Steve Irwin. The sudden movement by the Steve Irwin could very easily have been from the seas, but for some here to cry that "this proves it" is really kinda simplistic. I bet most of us, upon seeing a car cut us off, would yell to everyone in the car to "hold on" In fact, I would say that them having to be warned to put on a helmet may even show there was no plan to hit the harpoon boat. I mean, wouldn't they have been ready before the last second?

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If I were captain of a ship that had another attempting to cross it's bow (as the Sea Shepherds have claimed in their press release) I would not only have my crew wearing a helmet but in life jackets also. It's only common sense. And as I see if, from spending many years at sea in the navy, the position of the Steve Irwin shows that the harpoon boat was attempting to cross in front of it. The Steve Irwin could not have been where it was had it not been in position first. And I'm willing to bet that once we have better (ie longer) video, it will show that the Steve Irwin had the position, and the Harpoon ship should not have done the maneuver they did. I will grant you that the Steve Irwin was way too close to the factory boat and if it had been the one hit I would gladly agree with you it was the Shepherds fault. But that was not the case. And for anyone who has had control of a ship can tell you, as two ships approach like that, the smaller (ie Steve Irwin) is very likely to loose control as it appears in this video.
I will grant you that I am inclined to believe the Shepherds over the whalers is true. But I think the clear videos of the whalers doing many things they claim they have not (flash bangs, throwing objects...) and the failure of the whalers to back up their claims (acid thrown in bottles by Sea Shepherd) give me little reason to believe them. And strangely enough, I've not seen them claim to not be using LRAD sonic weapon as Sea Shepherd has reported.

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Apologies to Captain Watson maybe Josh? Thanks to the other guys for pointing out the obvious and the not so obvious. And thank you to Jeff, Australian Director of Sea Shepherd for taking the time to straighten out some thinking on this site.
Don't know what your beefs are guys, but having met Paul Watson, heard him speak and seen three standing ovations at a packed town hall - the guy is awesome and no fool. Bear in mind the only axe he is grinding is for the planet - not for profit, pride and the Yakuza! Not that he'd care what you thought - the day a sea creature complains about what he's doing - or a court of law finds him guilty - that'll be different. Till then, how about you save your barbs for the real bad guys - asian shark finners, those raping the oceans off the Galapagos islands (where Sea Shepherd has a permanent unit) the Canadian Seal Clubbers (who are about to start the worlds most needless and largest marine mammal slaughter again) to name but a few.

Linda

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Just look at the horizon. The Sea Sheperd turns into the other ship just prior to impact. Watson is a criminal.

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