February 14, 2011 - In 1820 the Nantucket-based whaling ship Essex was over 1000 miles from land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when it was attacked and sunk by an enraged sperm whale. Essex Captain George Pollard Jr. survived that tragedy after spending months at sea in an open boat and fending off starvation by resorting to cannibalism. The story of the Essex was a source of inspiration and information for Herman Melville's American classic, "Moby Dick". What happened next is more in line with a Greek tragedy.

Captain Pollard's harrowing ordeal with the Essex did not deter him from whaling. Returning to his Nantucket home he found command of another ship, the Two Brothers. And disaster struck again. The Two Brothers, on its way to hunt for whales in waters off Japan, sank on the night of February 11, 1823, after hitting a reef in shallow waters near Hawaii. The wreck of the Two Brothers was found in 2008 in what is now known as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, an enormous conservation area that covers nearly 140,000 square miles of ocean west of Hawaii.

Captain Pollard was rescued a day after the Two Brothers sank. He returned to Nantucket once more, where he settled into a quiet landlubber's life. He eventually took a job as the town’s night watchman. In the 1850s, he was visited by Herman Meliville whose “Moby-Dick" had just been published.

Here's more on the discovery of the Two Brothers from Jesse McKinley NYTimes.

October 19,2010 Kayaking with a friend near Marathon Florida, Karri Larson was assaulted by a fish that leaped out of the water, knocked her out of the boat and punctured her lung. Larson's friend got her back into the two-person kayak and called for help on his cell phone. She was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital by helicopter; she is now recovering there. Authorities aren't sure what kind of fish struck her. It was estimated to be 4 feet long. The most likely suspect is a houndfish. Here's the full story from the Orlando Sentinel

Video of Japanese whaler colliding with Ady Gil

October 9, 2010 - The following letter appeared in the NY Times in response to a story on charges by Pete Bethune:

The Biggest Sea Shepherd Non Story of the Year

by Captain Paul Watson

Captain Pete Bethune of the Ady Gil made news this week when he “confessed” to sinking his ship the Ady Gil under my orders. He said he was apologizing to the world for such an awful thing to do.

It caught us by surprise primarily because we all knew that Pete attempted to scuttle the Ady Gil. In fact over a million people saw and heard Pete Bethune make the decision to abandon the Ady Gil on the television show “Whale Wars.”

He was not ordered to sink it. In fact after towing the Ady Gil for 36 hours and breaking two tow ropes as the vessel became increasingly heavier as it filled with water, Captain Chuck Swift on the Bob Barker called me on the Steve Irwin. I was two hundred miles away from the two other vessels at the time. Chuck told me the Ady Gil could not be salvaged and asked me what he should do.

On camera, I say, “it’s Pete’s boat, it’s Pete’ call.”

On camera, Pete Bethune says that the boat cannot be salvaged and that his decision was to abandon it.

Abandoning it would have left it as a navigational hazard. It was Pete who went to the vessel to attempt to scuttle it and Maritime Safety Australia was made aware of this. I am not criticizing Pete’s decision. It was the correct decision to make. What I am saying is that neither Captain Chuck Swift nor I ordered Pete to scuttle the vessel. Read the rest.

 

September 27, 2010 - This past July Hyannis yacht designer Bill Cook took a 3,000 mile round trip voyage to Greenland's southern coast. The scenery was like "something out of a Tolkien fantasy." Read more about his voyage here.