The Devil's Den

The Sea Shepherds kickoff their 10th anti-whaling campaign in the Antarctic (Operation Relentless). As the long range icebreaker Bob Barker gets underway, Captain Peter Hammarstedt knows that the Japanese whalers most likely will be more aggressive than ever (he reflects on last year's campaign, Operation Zero Tolerance, when on February 20th, 2013, the Nisshin Maru rammed the Bob Barker and nearly capsized it while attempting to refuel from its bunker ship, the Sun Laurel). But this year, the Sea Shepherds are going on this campaign without their founder, Captain Paul Watson (who's back on land in an undisclosed location). So leading this campaign will be Captain Peter Hammarstedt, while Captain Sid Chakravarty commands the Steve Irwin, and commanding the Sam Simon is an American, Adam Meyerson. The Steve Irwin and Bob Barker will be patroling in the Ross Sea (Captain Peter is taking a gamble that the whalers will only be in this area and avoid Australia-Antarctic territorial waters because at the same time the campaign is going on, the International Court of Justice is reviewing an action against the Japanese whalers by the Australian government, challenging the claim that the whalers are doing scientific research), while the Sam Simon during this campaign will remain in a holding pattern 400 miles due north of Ross Sea acting as a refueling vessel. Three days into the whaling season, the Steve Irwin's new helicopter nicknamed "Sea Wasp", spots the factory ship Nisshin Maru and one of the three Yushin Maru harpoon ships. Unfortunately, the Nisshin's flensing deck is covered in red and has three minke whales on its deck, meaning four whales are dead. The Bob Barker is only 30 miles away and immediately heads for the factory ship as the helicopter heads back to the Steve Irwin. But in his rush, Captain Peter pushes the Barker's aging engine beyond its limits, and is forced to stop down as the Nisshin gets away. Meanwhile, the Irwin encounters the security ship Shonan Maru No.2 (the same ship that rammed the speedboat Ady Gil four years earlier). The small boats Delta and Humber engage the Shonan by first trying to plug the water cooling vents, but that doesn't work. So they drop prop fouler lines and stop the Shonan, allowing the Irwin to escape.