That is why Operation Icefish now consists of two vessels: one to resume the chase and one to haul in the nets and secure evidence.
For Hammarstedt it has virtually been an obsession that the chase after the Thunder would go on for longer than the Viarsa 1 chase. He has Sea Shepherd’s press division send an email to the Guinness Book of World Records.3 He now hopes that the chase is moving towards an imminent conclusion and that the authorities of the African nations located to the north will find the courage to force the Thunder in to land. Hammarstedt wants to return to the Banzare Bank to find more members of “The Bandit 6”.
To the north lies the Mozambique Channel, the strait between Mozambique and Madagascar which is so narrow that it is impossible to navigate without moving into one country’s exclusive economic zones. If the Thunder decides to sail there, not only Mozambique and Madagascar, but also France, which controls several of the islands in the channel, will have the hunter and its prey in their national waters.
From Interpol’s headquarters in Lyon an alert has been issued informing of the approach of the Thunder and the Bob Barker and in Mozambique the Director General of Fisheries is putting all ports from Maputo in the south to Pemba in the north in a state of preparedness. The patrol vessel the Antillas Reefer, a former pirate craft rebuilt using Norwegian and Icelandic development aid funds, is being prepared to receive the Thunder.4
“Mozambique leads the charge against the Thunder,” Peter Hammarstedt writes in an article on Sea Shepherd’s website.5 He has a number of ulterior motives for the article. He wants to goad the rich, Western nations, who he feels should have forced the Thunder into shore a long time ago. And he wants the captain of the Thunder to know that sailing north towards East Africa will serve no purpose.
A certain fear also reigns amongst the crew of the Bob Barker that the Thunder will set its course for the coast of Somalia. A ship named after an American multimillionaire can easily attract undesired attention.6 East African pirates will probably be far more interested in the Bob Barker than in the Thunder.
On the Thunder several of the officers are starting to lose faith in the shipmaster’s strategy. So far he has lost every duel. Now the two ships are slowly circling each other in the southern part of the Indian Ocean, like two boxers trying to find their opponent’s weak spot.
18
“THE ONLY SHERIFF IN TOWN”
THE INDIAN OCEAN, JANUARY 2015
The Thunder is performing strange manoeuvres. The ship moves in circles, directing a searchlight on the Bob Barker, then suddenly stops and drifts for a few hours. Then the mate puts the ship in motion again, heading for a point in the middle of nowhere.
Every day the Thunder’s captain receives an update from his wife, who is sitting home in the couple’s luxury apartment in Viña del Mar in Chile and following the chase on the Internet. Now he knows Hammarstedt by name and from his photograph and he knows that the Thunder – the ship that as few people as possible were supposed to know about – is currently one of the world’s most photographed vessels.
He is desperate, he drinks and he is beginning to come apart at the seams, Hammarstedt thinks, after having called up the Thunder to receive an explanation for the confusing light signals. The Thunder’s captain is clearly drunk and as usual he refuses to give his name. Before hanging up he calls Hammarstedt an idiot and says that he doesn’t have the authority to pursue him.
What worries Hammarstedt more than any of Cataldo’s excesses is the photograph he sees on “Marine Traffic”. A China flagged ship has sets its course in their direction. It can be on the way to a research base in Antarctica, or it can be on the way to help the Thunder. Hammarstedt calls an extraordinary crew meeting in the lounge.
“Last night we saw a Chinese vessel heading in our direction. That brought to mind the possibility that the Thunder may try to offload their catch at sea. Alternatively they get fuel or water or other supplies from another vessel. If they do refuel at sea, we must assume that they might outlast us. That is a situation we can’t allow to occur. In the same regard, we can’t have them offloading to another vessel, then the physical evidence of the crime is gone. I won’t let them take off with this fish. And I won’t allow them to refuel,” Hammarstedt says.
If a ship were to come to the Thunder’s aid, Hammarstedt would launch the dinghies and cut the fenders off the supply ship so the two could not position themselves side by side. His final recourse will be to put the Bob Barker between the ships.
“But there is a possibility that they will strike our ship, and there is a possibility of a collision. They are unpredictable. It is important for me to know where the whole crew is at all times. Is anybody uncomfortable with this plan?”
Nobody answers Hammarstedt’s question.
“Any likelihood of the Thunder tossing anything overboard?” one of the crew asks.
“We know that after the fishing season they have millions of dollars’ worth of catch in their hold, and that is not something they will give up lightly,” Hammarstedt replies.
There are quotes hanging on the walls of the great cabin from classical authors which Hammarstedt now and then will recite for the crew at the morning meetings. But more than anything else he loves his police metaphors.
“If a drug dealer has a lot of cocaine on him he only flushes it down the toilet when the police are right at the door,” he
