Sid Chakravarty prepares to receive the pirates on board the Sam Simon. He is concerned about how the crew of the Sam Simon will manage to deal with the pirates, who outnumber them two to one. He asks Hammarstedt if he can borrow four brawny men from the Bob Barker. What Chakravarty fears most is that the Thunder crew will try to come up onto the bridge and take control of the Sam Simon. For a moment he considers zip-tying the hands of the shipwrecked seamen.
“Sure you need that? They seem pretty quiet,” Hammarstedt says.
“I will keep that as an option when I see how the mood is,” Chakravarty says.
None of the Sea Shepherd shipmasters have ever transported prisoners at sea. They agree to proceed slowly. Chakravarty will bring the captain on board first. He will talk to him to get a feeling of the mood before he lets the rest of the crew climb on board – one by one. But what will they do when everyone is on board? Set their course for São Tomé immediately? Or should they wait until the Thunder sinks?
While Hammarstedt and Chakravarty are discussing their options, Colette Harmsen comes up onto the bridge. She has taken care of the fish.
“I had to change my shirt because I hugged a fish. I still smell,” she says.
Hammarstedt asks her to tape up the freezer and label it “do not open”.
What kind of birds were they that appeared in the sky around the Bob Barker? Meyerson doesn’t know. They look like cranes. What are they doing so far out at sea?
“They are not seabirds,” he says to Simon Ager, who has come up onto the bridge. Ager doesn’t have an answer.
“Anyway, today is the day for the two beers I have been saving,” Meyerson says.
“This show is going to be bigger than Whale Wars,” Ager answers.
“It was like the fanciest fishing boat when it was built,” Meyerson says.
Anteo Broadfield has also come up onto the bridge. He is impressed with the ship that is now slowly sinking right before their eyes.
“The hull was massive. The accommodation was sweet,” he says.
Hammarstedt is sitting in the communications room and talking with journalists. After Sea Shepherd sent out a press release, the telephone has been ringing off the hook.
On the bridge of the Bob Barker they are still struggling to absorb the day’s events.
“It is our ship now. Let’s save it and sell it to Greenpeace,” Meyerson chuckles while looking at the sad sight. “I had a dream that we would see a big black puff of smoke and then the Thunder sinking. We didn’t see the big black puff of smoke, but it is sinking, so I guess half of my dream came true. What a waste for them and for the ocean. It is a huge waste of everything to watch it end like this,” he says.
The Thunder’s stern is pitching heavily against the gentle waves, agitating the water up on the deck. The old pirate does not have a chance, the water is beating against the stern and the quarterdeck is almost at the same level as the water surface.
“There you go. Drink it down, baby,” Meyerson says.
Hammarstedt stares steadily out at the ocean.
“I can’t believe it.”
“Look what you did, Peter. Good on you,” Harmsen says.
“But the ship is still in pretty good shape. It’s worth millions. And they are still willing to do that. I can’t understand what they gain,” Vermeulen muses.
“How much trouble can they get into?” Meyerson wonders.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s too much fish to throw overboard. I don’t know,” Hammarstedt says.
“Remember that they are really out of fuel. They have nothing left. Maybe they didn’t know what to do anymore?” Vermeulen says.
“Maybe,” Hammarstedt says.
And what happens now, after the Thunder is gone? Will Interpol come to São Tomé?
“I just put out an email and said that we need immediate advice on where to take these guys, and we are waiting for a reply to that,” Hammarstedt says.
He has also asked Nigeria to send a naval vessel to escort them.
“We’ll see. Hard to do a rescue and media and a TV show, but we are getting there. I am going to see if anyone replied. You OK, Adam? I know you haven’t gotten any sleep or anything.”
“Yup. I’m fine. This is what I saved myself for. This is why I have been so lazy for four months,” Meyerson chuckles.
The crew of the Thunder have been in the rafts for more than five hours. Two life rafts are tied together with a rope. It is midday and the hot sun is beating down. Sid Chakravarty is on his way over to the Bob Barker for a final conversation with Hammarstedt before the pirates are taken on board the Sam Simon.
“They are going to be angry,” Colette Harmsen says.
“I know the Spanish are dangerous. Let’s hose them down with the fire hose,” Meyerson suggests.
On the bridge the telephone continues to ring. Now it’s the Australian ABC News who wants to talk to Hammarstedt, but he is in a meeting with Chakravarty. The journalist has to wait and becomes angry.
“We’ll have to schedule our sinking better next time,” Meyerson laughs as he navigates the Bob Barker closer to the Thunder so Ager and the other photographers can take the best possible pictures when the ship sinks.
On the bridge of the Bob Barker two of the crew are studying Cataldo, the Thunder’s captain, who is sitting on the side of one of the life rafts. They can see that he is still talking and gesticulating.
“He looks like such a cock,” Harmsen says.
“I wonder what his story is?” another woman on the bridge of the Bob Barker marvels.
“He looks like the guy from American History X, but with more hair,” Harmsen says, thinking of the American actor Edward Norton, in one of his most famous parts as a violent neo-Nazi in the film from 1998.
Hammarstedt and
