Very rapidly we were in a chase scenario, the Yushin Maru chasing the whale, the whale breaching, coming up for air, every 40 metres or so. The ‘Billy G’ was in front of the catcher, swerving, distracting, with us in the orange boat off to the right, trying to keep a clear shot for images, but the Yushin Maru swerved changed it’s bearings, following the whale. Odin drove, glancing around, trying to keep us in position, he did well. The whale kept breaching, blowing, “it’s over there to the left”, “it’s dead ahead Odin”, they’re going right Odin, over there mate”. It isn’t easy to second guess where a whale fleeing for it’s life is going to surface, especially from an inflatable at a low level in the water. For the men of the catcher ship up the crow’s nest, the spotters, it is substantially easier.

Then BANG. The harpoonist had shot. It’s gets a little confusing here, how many times he fired and missed. Life seems to be speeding by, time seems short, there are so many things going through your head. Protect the cameras, hold onto the boat, don’t fall out, where is the whale?, where is the catcher ship? Is the harpooner pointing at us?


Greenpeace ship MY Esperanza witness the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean by the Kyo Maru No.1 ships of the Japanese whaling fleet, and the transfer of the whales to the Nisshin Maru factory ship. Southern Ocean.

Once the harpoonist shoots, all the boats slow down, all eyes fix on the whitish rope coming from the bow, is it taught , is it loose in the water? Has he missed, has the whale escaped?

The rope was loose, and was being reeled in, the whale surfaces way ahead, and everyone realises it’s a miss. The chase is on again. We speed up. We’re pacing the whale, the two inflatables between it and the catcher ship.


Inflatable from the Greenpeace ship MY Esperanza , try to hinder the tying up of a half dead minke whale, moments after it has been shot, but not killed, by the Yushin Maru No.2 catcher ship. Southern Ocean.

Then we’re out to the right, the starboard side of the catcher, and BANG. We see the harpoon fly, the detonation sound an instant later. And then, to cries from Odin and I, we see the harpoon strike the breaching whale, but instantly we knew it wasn’t a fatal shot. I remember seeing a splash of white seawater, the black of the whale, but also a sudden tinge of red. The blood of the whale. It had been hit, but it seemed to be a glancing blow.


Inflatables from the Greenpeace ship MY Esperanza hinder the hunting, of minke whales by the Kyo Maru No. 1

So now we had an injured whale fleeing for its life. Sickening. It was breaching more often by now, white of the spray tinged with blood red, tiring from the chase, obviously losing blood and energy. It seemed like a big whale, looked muscular and stocky. It was breaching to our left, then ahead, then left, then right. It was trying hard to escape, frightened I imagine, not knowing which way to turn.