Sea Shepherd Calls On Navies To Intercept The “Slave” Ship.

In a radio communication to the Sea Shepherd ships Bob Barker and Sam Simon, the Captain of the Interpol-wanted poaching vessel, Thunder, has reported that one of the deck crew, said to be Indonesian, has attempted suicide.

The report comes in the wake of the news that the Thunder has been de-registered by its flag state, Nigeria, for violations of its registry conditions; an action that means that the Thunder is now officially a stateless, pirate-vessel as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

In the follow-up to the attempted suicide attempt, the Sea Shepherd ship, Bob Barker, launched a small boat and attempted to deliver notes in plastic bottles to the Thunder's Indonesian deck crew. The notes stated that the Sea Shepherd ships are willing and equipped to take the on board not only the injured crewmember, but the entire deck crew of Thunder.

The notes were intercepted by the officers on the Thunder, who are believed to be of Spanish descent, and thrown overboard.



The Captain of the Thunder then radioed the Bob Barker and stated that the Indonesian crew did not want further communication with the Sea Shepherd ships. Another man, said to be the “Indonesian deck boss”, then read a prepared statement in Spanish, stating that the "captain is a good person" and that they did not want Sea Shepherd to deliver any more messages.



An Indonesian speaker on board the Sam Simon then radioed the Thunder in Bahasa, the local Indonesian language, to verify the contents of the prepared Spanish statement. The Thunder’s Captainresponded, saying the deck boss had "gone to bed" and that Sea Shepherd would not be able to speak to him again.



Despite requests for further information, the Captain of the Thunder would not provide the name of the Indonesian deck boss, or the name of the crewing agency responsible for hiring the deck crew. He also stated that the poaching vessel was equipped to remain at sea for another nine months.

Captain of the Bob Barker, Peter Hammarstedt, responded, repeating Sea Shepherd's offer to take the on board the deck crew of Thunder. The Captain of the Thunder refused the offer.