Two officers exit the bridge of the Thunder and are both holding something in their hands that resembles a compact camera. One of them is dressed in black trousers and a brown jacket, and he is wearing a black cap pulled down to the frames of his oblong glasses. He leans down behind one of the white containers that protect the life rafts from the wind and weather. Now they are protecting the officers from the telephoto lens of Simon Ager. The officer wearing a dark purple jacket with washed-out patterns, camouflage trousers and a ski mask makes no attempt to hide. He positions himself straddle-legged and almost demonstratively in Hammarstedt’s field of vision and looks toward the bridge. The two ships pitch slowly up and down on the swells that the bad weather left in its wake. If neither ship backs down, they are going to collide.
“That’s going to be close … Zero pitch. Zero pitch. Let’s go ten astern. Twenty astern!” Hammarstedt calls.
He guns the engine astern, and when the Thunder passes in front of the Bob Barker headed for the net floats, there is barely half a metre between the two steel giants. At all times the man behind the ski mask is looking in the direction of his opponent on the Bob Barker. It is as if he wants to demonstrate that he will win this battle.
Hammarstedt knows that he has lost the opportunity to prevent the Thunder from hauling up the nets. Soon the crew of the Bob Barker will be obliged to observe the sight of wriggling marine life dangling along the hull of the pirate trawler. The first thing Hammarstedt does is to beg his officers’ pardon. He backed down; that is unusual for a Sea Shepherd captain.
“As long as there are crew hanging out on the deck on the Thunder, there is little I can do,” he says.
The catch was not much to speak of. A few small cod, some crab and lobster and a small shark or two that was thrown back in. The lobster goes straight to the cook who that same evening prepares a feast.
The fishing captain Juan Manuel Patiño Lampon is in a better mood than he has been for a long time. He has been fed up with the standstill and the monotonous diet of split cod, frozen chicken and rice. He wants to work, he wants to eat fresh seafood and he wants to test how far Hammarstedt is willing to go to prevent him from fishing. And if Sea Shepherd should attempt to pull up the nets that could give them a chance to take off. The officers on the Thunder saw that Sea Shepherd filmed everything they did. They heard the young captain repeating over and over again on the radio that they were fishing illegally and that they were going to stop them but he failed to do so. It was Sea Shepherd’s captain who backed down.
After the net had been hauled up out of the ocean, a lengthy outburst of expletives poured over the radio. Captain Luis Alfonso Rubio Cataldo told Hammarstedt that they had been given a green light from the ship owner to fish and that they had a permit, but Hammarstedt did not want to listen.
The next day the Thunder once again begins gliding slowly towards the Melville Bank. The Sea Shepherd crew prepares itself for another confrontation and now they know how the captain navigates the Thunder when they are fishing. The weather is also better. On the foredeck, the tarp is removed from the largest dinghy, the Gemini. While the dirt and salt are being washed off the outboard motors, the third mate Anteo Broadfield navigates the Bob Barker closer to the Thunder. He sounds a blast on the ship’s horn to get the Thunder’s captain’s attention; he wants to show him that the dinghy is ready for launching.
Then the Thunder stops. The captain calls up the bridge of the Bob Barker.
“Buenas tardes, Bob Barker.”
Cataldo says that he has received permission from the government of Nigeria to fish, a lie that will be quickly communicated to Interpol’s headquarters in Lyon.
“We don’t believe you. If you start fishing, we are going to cut the nets,” Hammarstedt replies.
“If you cut the nets, you will be destroying private property. I will take photographs and video everything you do,” Cataldo threatens.
“Tell him that he can take as many photos and videos as he likes. He can get some great shots of us cutting his nets,” Hammarstedt says.
The Thunder’s captain does not back down. They have received orders and if Sea Shepherd behaves aggressively towards them, they will behave aggressively in return.
“OK. Tell him that we are ready,” Hammarstedt says.
Now the crew prepares the ship for action. They are going to carry out what they failed to accomplish the day before. If they can manage to fish up one of the net floats with an iron hook, they can cut the net. Hammarstedt takes the helm while Meyerson regulates their speed.
The Bob Barker glides slowly in the wake of the Thunder with its course set for the closest net float, which has just been expelled from the hatch on the Thunder’s stern. On the Bob Barker’s starboard side the crew stands at ready on deck to throw out iron hooks attached to long ropes to capture the floats.
“Grab it when you can,” Hammarstedt calls over the walkie-talkie to the long-haired, strapping boatswain Alistair Alan.
The entire net is now in the water, and they both see that the trawler is about to turn around.
“Hurry up. The Thunder is coming back at us,” Hammarstedt says.
The first attempt to throw out an iron hook falls short. On deck, Alan urges the deck
