This article caught my attention. Why? First, Farley Mowat is a famous Canadian author that lives in my hometown. Second, I’m sure that there aren’t many Canadian pirate ships. Finally, it is a ship with a man’s name! (Even though the ship has a man’s name, they still refer to it as “she”).
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The Globe and Mail – February 2nd, 2007
OTTAWA — The conservationist ship named after author Farley Mowat and known for hindering whalers and seal hunters has become a pirate vessel after Transport Canada revoked its registration last August.
According to naval law, the crew of any ship can board the Farley Mowat and detain its crew, said Paul Watson, the founder of the eco-militant group Sea Shepherd.
“If you don’t have a flag, you’re liable to confiscation and seizure by anybody on the high seas,” Mr. Watson said when reached yeserday on the bridge of the 48-metre ship.
The Farley Mowat has been crisscrossing Antarctic waters for weeks as it tries to intercept a fleet of Japanese whalers, a quest Mr. Watson intends to pursue despite his troubles with Transport Canada.
“We haven’t broken any laws, we haven’t broken any regulations,” Mr. Watson said. “We’ve always been registered as a yacht.”
Transport Canada could not explain the revocation last night.
Mr. Watson has a long history of animal-rights activism that sometimes has led him to run-ins with the law. He was convicted last year in a Prince Edward Island court of coming too close to a seal hunt.
Yesterday, he blamed his latest setback on pressure from Japan. For several years, Mr. Watson’s group has been trying to hinder the activities of Japanese whalers who have consistently shunned the terms of an international moratorium on hunting whales.
The activists’ modus operandi borders on brinkmanship and often results in confrontation. Sea Shepherd members are known for placing their Zodiac boats between the harpoon-launching vessel and the whale they want to protect.
This year, however, they haven’t had any luck.
Sea Shepherd believes the New Zealand Air Force has filmed the Japanese whalers in action in Antarctica, but that country declines to disclose their co-ordinates fearing confrontation. The eco-militant group has posted a $25,000 (U.S.) reward for the whalers’ whereabouts.
Another vessel accompanying the Farley Mowat has also had its registration revoked by British authorities. And the conservationists must return to port to refuel in two weeks, risking confiscation of their vessels.
Transport Canada detained the Farley Mowat in 2005 over concerns it could cause pollution.
Reached at his home in Port Hope, Ont., Farley Mowat, the author, decried the latest troubles plaguing the ship that bears his name.
“She’s victim of a conspiracy of the powers that be to take her out of action,” he said. “It think it’s utterly imbecilic.”
