Owner: The Last Whale URL:http://thelastwhale.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:23:17 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: It’s the 1970s. A group of hippies climb into rubber boats and head out to sea to face explosive head harpoons. They have whales to save. And they have faith. The whalers have steel ships, spotter aircraft, sonar, radar and working radios. They have high Site statistics:Click here
Whaling Ship Captains Defend Humpbacks 2007-11-05 00:48:00 Fight for Fifty day organised by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) at Middleton Beach, Albany, Western Australia, on November 3, 2007. Whale defenders hold placards representing 50 whales to be hunted by the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic this season. Writer Tim Winton, 1977 anti-whaling activisit Jonny Lewis and former whaling ship captain Kase Van Der Gaag at Albany, the site of Australia's last whaling station.Former foes unite to speak for humpbacks. (l-r) Kase Van Der Gaag, former whaling captain; Jonny Lewis, anti-whaling activisit from 1977; Paddy Hart, former whaling ship captain; Chris Pash. November 3, 2007By Chris Pash Thirty years ago Jonny Lewis and Kase Van Der Gaag were locked in a duel in the Southern Ocean off Western Australia. Jonny was hell-bent on saving sperm whales from explosive head harpoons. Kase, the master and harpoon gunner of the Cheynes II, wanted to lead Jonny’s five metre rubber Zodiac boat away from the other two 47 metre steel Read more:Whaling
Anti-whaling activists Return to Albany 2007-10-29 18:41:00 August 28, 1977, protest at the gates of Australia's last whaling station in Albany, Western AustraliaPat Rose Farrington, who played a leading role at the whaling station protest, and Kase Van Der Gaag, former master and harpoon gunner of the Cheynes II, meeting for the first time in September 2007 in Albany.American Pat Rose and Canadian Bobbi Hunter returned to Albany thirty ears after they took direct action against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company. A reception was held for them at the City of Albany.The last whale was taken on November 20, 1978.The orginal direct action crew were honoured at a Greenpeace function in Sydney in September 2007, thirty years since Greenpeace's first campaign in Australia.Jonny Lewis, a key figure in the campaign who formed the Whale and Dolphin Coalition which morphed into Greenpeace Australia, will return to ALbany in November.-Chris Pash Read more:Return
Yankee Whalers 2007-10-29 17:31:00 By Marc SonginiNo one admires the old Yankee
(and other assorted ethnic) whalers like I do.If I hadn’t, I couldn’t have written the book I did. I spent seven years virtually living with them while researching and writing “The Lost Fleet.” Many of these blubber hunters, as they were called—captains, mates, harpooners, and crewmen alike—were very great mariners and lived like heroes from Homer and overcame corresponding challenges. They had great skills in navigation and seamanship in both small boats and in large square-riggers, and courage.They had to be both accomplished mariners and whale hunters, two not necessarily allied skills. Each time a whaleboat crew lowered, it was by no means assured if the whale or his hunters would survive the day. I’ve seen whales up fairly close, both from boats and kayaks. They are huge and gentle, even polite giants—but when attacked can be very lethal opponents.Understandably, the hunt was a rather tense experience. Using ancient weap
Whale of a Time 2007-10-28 21:24:00 Albany, the site of Australia's last whaling station, defined itself in the 1970s by the whales it hunted. The sticker above was collected by Aline Charney Barber while taking direct action against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company in 1977.Extract from the as yet unpublished book, The Last Whale
:"Aline Charney noted the town used the whale to define itself. A whale of a town. A whale of a radio station. The whale was a symbol and yet they were killing the whales. They loved the image but were killing the real thing. The contradiction got to her."The locals liked the connection to whales. Whaling had been important to Albany since it was founded in 1826. Whaling ships would call in to Albany for provisions and the first local whaling was done from Middleton Beach in 1833 near where the anti-whaling protesters set up their headquarters."Love’s Bus Service, the local tour operator, ran four trips to the station each week during the whaling season. Tourists asked for the tour, the bus o
Then and Now: Tom 'two harpoon' Barber 2007-10-17 18:43:00 Australian Tom Barber
in front of a photograph taken by Jonny Lewis in 1977 in Albany, Western Australia. The photograph, part of a Greenpeace exhibition in Sydney (Sept-Oct 2007) celebrating its 30 years in Australia, shows Tom next to a Zodiac holding a copy of the Albany Advertiser front page proclaiming "Whalers Blameless".Tom and Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin had a close call with a harpoon while taking direct action against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, Australia's last whaling operation. Tom and Jean-Paul made complaints to the police about the behaviour of the whaling ships. The complaints were rejected.Later during the same campaign, Tom and Jonny Lewis had another close call with a harpoon. Hence, Tom's nickname ... Two Harpoon.seehttp://thelastwhale.blogspot.com/2007/09/two-harpoon-tom.html http://thelastwhale.blogspot.com/2007/09/second-harpoon.html by Chris Pash greenpeace whaling Whales chris pash
The 1977 Direct Action Crew 2007-10-16 00:10:00 Fernando Pereira (above)Some members of the original team who were a part of the first Greenpeace direct action in Australia gathered in Sydney in September, 2007, 30 years after the campaign against Australia's last whaling station at Albany, Western Australia.At a function to honour the Greenpeace Australia co-founders, Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) dedicated the night to the memory of Fernando Pereira, the photographer who was killed in the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.Also remembered was the late Bob Hunter (http://www.bobhunter.org/), a Greenpeace founder, who came from Canada to Australia in 1977 to lend his expertise honed in the North Pacific against the Soviet whaling fleet.Pictured left to right: Jodi Adams, the first coordinator of Greenpeace in Australia;Richard Jones, animal rights campaigner who registered Greenpeace in Australia;Steven Jones, a member of the 1977 direct action team;Tom 'two harpoon' Barber who piloted a Zodiac during the first direct action; Read more:Direct
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Tilting at Windmills 2007-09-24 22:02:00 This photograph was taken by Australian Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) in 1977 from a Zodiac inflatable boat miles out to sea in the Southern Ocean. It's the Cheynes II, one of three whale chaser ships hunting sperm whales out of Albany, Western Australia, at that time.Jonny and a group of activisits including Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin and Australian Tom Barber (www.tombarber.com) formed the Whale and Dolphin Coalition to take direct action against Australia's last whaling station.Jean-Paul, who financed the campaign, contacted Greenpeace, then getting world attention for its campaign against Soviet whalers in the North Pacific.Bob Hunter, Greenpeace co-founder and its first president, and Bobbi Hunter, Greenpeace's first treasurer, came to Australia to help the direct action against the last whaling station in the English-speaking world.The photograph taken during the campaign at Albany, Western Australian in August/September 1977 is included in an exhibition in Sydney mar
The Phantom Emerges from the Jungle 2007-09-17 20:11:00 By Chris PashThe Phantom
, Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin, resurfaced briefly in Sydney last week. He was a key figure behind the 1977 direct action against Australia's last whaling station at Albany, Western Australia.He came to Sydney to help celebrate Greenpeace's 30th anniversary of direct action in Australia. Jean-Paul pulled together that campaign with money from his own pocket.Jean-Paul spent time with his fellow 1977 activists: Australians Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) and Tom Barber (www.tombarber.com); American Aline Charney Barber; Canadian Bobbi Hunter (Greenpeace's first treasurer and wife of Greenpeace's first president Bob Hunter); American Pat Rose Farrington.He attended a function on Friday, September 14, at Carriage Works in Sydney. All the 'co-founders' of Greenpeace Australia were honoured.Jonny Lewis dubbed Jean-Paul 'The Phantom' in 1977 because he appeared out of nowhere to fight evil, just like the comic book character.The Phantom slipped out of Australia agai Read more:Jungle
The Second Harpoon 2007-09-12 22:36:00 Tom Barber (above) and photographer Jonny Lewis (www.jonnylewis.org) went out in the Zodiac for the last time on September 22, 1977, to run interference against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company whale chaser ships off Western Australia.It was Tom's second and Jonny's first close shave with a harpoon.Extract from THE LAST WHALE:"Jonny was rattled by the closeness and the noise of the cannon. His hands shook. He thought the harpoon was going to hit the Zodiac. Jonny thought Tom was lucky. At least he could hold onto the tiller.The crew on the chaser looked pretty happy to have frightened them. Jonny recovered and swung his attention to the whale. It had been hit. Jonny sagged. He felt impotent, useless, filled with overwhelming rage and frustration. Heavy duty.Detached from the world, Jonny noted that the whalers were efficient. They put two more harpoons into the whale, making sure it was dead, brought it alongside, pumped it with air, put a flag on the body and were off for the next Read more:Second
Two Harpoon Tom 2007-09-12 22:00:00 Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin (l) and Tom Barber outside the Albany Police Station.(Second photo: Tom Barber and Allan Simmons in 1977 in the Zodiac inflatable they used in direct action against Australia's last whaling operation off Albany, Western Australia. )(JONNY LEWIS PHOTOS http://jonnylewis.org/)Tom Barber had close calls with explosive head harpoons twice during the campaign against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia, August/September 1977.Tom, fellow Australians Jonny Lewis and Allan Simmons, Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin and Bob Hunter, a Canadian and co-founder of Greenpeace, went up to 30 nautical miles into the Southern Ocean to run interference against the three whale chasing ships.Tom and Jean-Paul made official complaints to the police about one incident. In a written statement to Police, Tom Barber said: " “We were about to cross behind the whale when we heard the thump of the harpoon discharge. The harpoon struck the whale near the centre o
The Last Whale harpooned by Australians 2007-09-04 21:37:00 By Chris PashPhoto by ED SMIDT Over the 26 years that the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company operated, about 16,100 whales were harpooned: 14,600 sperms whales; 1,500 humpback whales (according to Whale
World).http://www.whaleworld.org/FAQs/About_Cheynes_Beach_Whaling_Company/The last whale was caught on November 20, 1978. That day nine whales were harpooned.To fill the annual quota of 713 whales, the three whales chaser ships had to take six female sperm whales. But on the last day of operation (November 21, 1978) no whales were harpooned.An extract from The Last Whale describing the last day of whaling in Australia:November 21, 1978 --The whale chasers dressed up for their last day. Each of the three vessels had flags and bunting flying. The crews had resigned themselves. The industry was gone and their jobs as well.Those who’d never fired the harpoon cannon got their chance. Skipper Paddy Hart thought he’d give everyone a go. That way they would recall, years later, that they
Saves the Whales - 1977 2007-09-04 20:46:00 A Save the Whales t-shirt from 1977 as worn by Aline Charney during the campaign against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company at Albany, Western Australia.greenpeacewhalingWhales Read more:Saves
The Studio 2007-09-04 18:27:00 By Chris PashThe direct action campaign against the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company was hatched in 1977 at a studio, a converted warehouse in Sydney's eastern suburbs, shared by photographer Jonny Lewis and architect Tom Barber. They turned it into the anti-whaling headquarters. Frenchman Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin and Jonny Lewis planned the campaign in a thick haze of strong cigarette smoke.The newspaper pictured above was one of the main set pieces produced by the Whale and Dolphin Coalition from the studio. It announced the linkup between the coalition and Greenpeace and stated the case FOR the whales.greenpeacewhalingWhaleschris pash Read more:Studio
Whaling Station Protest - Albany, Western Australia 2007-09-04 01:03:00 Pro-whale activists Jim Cairns, former deputy prime minister (l), Jean-Paul Fortom-Gouin (centre), and Bob Macmillan, outside the whaling station in Albany, WesternAustralia
, on August 28, 1977.When the whaling station closed in 1978, the Albany Advertiser wrote in an editorial that it was a black day, the "triumph of emotive actions and a disinterested Federal Government over the planned and responsible harvesting of a natural resource benefitting the town it operates in".On August 28, 2007, the 30th anniversary of the protests, the Albany Advertiser wrote: "happily the local attitude to whales has turned right around in the 30 years since the Greenpeace protest. "Whale watching is now and industry. The former whaling station, the last in the English speaking world, a tourist attraction. The sperm whales haven't been hunted for 30 years.--chris pashgreenpeacewhalingWhales chris pash Read more:Whaling
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Images from August 28, 1977, Albany, W.A. 2007-09-04 00:51:00 In the thick of it. Anti-whaling demonstrators meet whaling company staff at the demonstration on August
28, 1977.The Protest: Miss Cacholot, the blow up sperm whale at the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company whaling station.Australian Tom Barber standing, Canadian Bobbi Hunter sitting. At the whaling station August 28, 1977.greenpeace whaling Whales Read more:Images
August 28, 1977 - The Authorities 2007-09-03 21:22:00 (Bob Hunter at the helm of a Zodiac off the whaling station on August
18, 1977) By Chris PashThe government of Western Australia reacted swiftly to the protest at the gates of the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company's whaling station at Albany.There was a strong police presence at the demonstration. Later the state govenment moved to plug holes in legislation which allowed the activisits to run interference against the whale ships at sea. If the protesters ever came back, they would face new laws.Sir Charles Court, the state premier, viewed with contempt the activities of Greenpeace. “I don’t think they deserve any public sympathy at all. The Cheynes Beach whaling project is one that has been conducted strictly within the rules … the company is harvesting whales, not pillaging them as these people would have us believe. As far as I’m concerned, the Cheynes Beach people have always conducted their operations properly. It ill becomes a group like the Greenpeace people to come here tr
The Phantom 2007-03-19 17:20:00 By Chris PashThe photograph is of Jean Paul Fortom-Gouin, dubbed 'The Phantom
' by Australian anti-whaling activist Jonny Lewis. The young Australian met the Frenchman in Canberra in June 1977 while protesting at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission.Jonny Lewis (http://www.jonnylewis.org/) took this image from a Zodiac inflatable while chasing Australia's last whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean off Western Australia in 1977. In the background is the Cheynes II (http://www.whaleworld.org/), one of three whale chaser ships.An extract from The Last WhaleCanberra, June 1977:Jean Paul Fortom-Gouin was thirty-five years old, born in Morocco and lived in America. He arrived in Canberra with official accreditation as the representative of the government of Panama. The fact that Panama was not involved in whaling was not lost on the establishment. How the Frenchman had persuaded the Panamanian Government to allow him to represent them at this multilateral gathering was the subje
Dangerous ideas 2007-02-21 03:03:00 It's the 1970s. Drugs, sex and rock and roll. And dangerous ideas
. One of them is the concept that man may not have a free hand to do what he wants with the world's resources.Australia's last whaling station at Albany, Western Australia, is hunting sperm whales in the Southern Ocean. Whaling has been going on since before European settlement. The local crews of the whale chaser ships have standing in the community. They're the good guys. They go out each day and take a crop from the ocean. They bring money into the town. More than 100 people work in whaling, one of the biggest industries in town.In other parts of the world, opposition to whaling grows. The industry has a history of overexploitation, hunting whales, such as the blue whale, to the point of extinction.A bunch of self-described scruffy hippies decide to take the fight to the point of the harpoons. They are led by Bob Hunter, a Canadian and co-founder of Greenpeace. Bob and his wife Bobbi arrive in Sydney in mid 1977 to
Obituary - Australian Whaling Ship Captain 2007-02-19 16:47:00 By Chris PashAndrew Gordon CruickshankBorn: October 8, 1925Died: May 5, 2006Gordon Cruickshank liked to sneak up on a sperm whale. He’d come in behind the pod, drift into position and line up his target, the one whale he wanted.The master and harpoon gunner of the chaser Cheynes III bagged one of the last whales caught in Australia. He was there at the end when Australia’s last whaling station, and the last in the English-speaking world, closed at Albany on November 21, 1978.The Cheynes III could drift without power for several miles and still have some steerage. Gordon liked to be as quiet as he could.“I’d shut everything off about 50 yards out, come right up behind them and get a shot just under the little flipper they have on their side.”A head shot was no good. It was an easy target, almost one-third of a sperm whale’s body length, but it was tough. A harpoon could bounce off.Recounting the technique in the pub, he would emphasis the point of the story with a sudden jab Read more:Whaling
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The first whale war 2007-02-16 22:27:00 This blog is about the war for the whales, the first battle in 1977 and 1978. The campaign changed Australia from a pro-whaling nation to an international advocate for the whales. It also saw the formation of Greenpeace in Australia.I worked for the local newspaper, The Albany Advertiser, in Western Australia at the time. Albany was then a small sleepy town on the south coast. Next stop the Antarctic.The arrival of activists wanting to confront the whalers at the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, the last whaling station left in Australia, turned the town upside down.Clashes took place at the gates to the whaling station and 30 miles out to sea -- a contest between rubber Zodiacs, open boats, and steel, sea-going whale ships.I've written a book about the events on the people. More on that later. This blog will be a deposit of stories and accounts from that time including photos and documents. The story is from two sides: the whalers; and the activists. The whalers, as you will see, got a
JAPAN’S WHALING FLEET SHADOWED 2007-11-18 00:58:00 IFAW PHOTOSNovember, 18, 2007Japan’s whaling fleet today left Shimonoseki, a western port town, to start a new season of whaling in Antarctica. The whalers intend to take more than 1000 whales over the next four months.Japan has added 50 humpback whales to the kill list this year, a species protected from commercial hunting for more than 40 years. The fleet is led by the Nisshin Maru which has been repaired since a fire that forced Japan to cut short its last Antarctic hunt.Both the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Greenpeace have said they will have ships in the Antarctic this season. Greenpeace's Esperanza ship will track the whalers in Antarctic waters, shooting video footage to show the public.The mass killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary has been deemed to be unlawful according to three separate panels of international, independent legal experts, commissioned by IFAW.“The Australian Government has claimed they would ‘continue to fight for the protect
Humpbacks: Email Campaign 2007-11-15 21:52:00 The Japanese whaling fleet is on its way to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.This Southern Hemisphere summer, for the first time in more than four decades, Japanese harpoons will be waiting for humpback whales when they reach their feeding grounds.Under so-called ‘scientific’ whaling, the Government of Japan’s whaling fleet aims to kill more than 1,000 whales including 50 humpbacks.Humpback whaling collapsed in 1962 due to over exploitation and was banned.IFAW, the people behind Fight for Fifty Day said today:"At the Federal Election on 24 November 2007 vote for the whales - Tell your local candidates that you want action to stop Japan’s inhumane, unlawful and unnecessary whaling program."Send an email to your candidates today and make sure that the next Government of Australia gets the message that Australians want a permanent end to whaling now."Take action today before the first whale is killed."IFAW earlier this week released a report by an international panel of legal ex Read more:Email
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Chasing Whale Ships from Sea Level 2007-11-28 18:09:00 Photo Copyright Jonny Lewis. All Rights Reserved.By Chris PashThe Last Whale
Jonny Lewis was drowning in the raw beauty and power of the Southern Ocean. Initially, he couldn’t speak as he looked out across King George Sound, Western Australia, to the horizon. The immensity of that body of water overwhelmed him.“We went out there?” Jonny said eventually. He couldn’t believe that thirty years ago he and his friends took an open boat south to the end of the world.This was the first look he’d had since 1977 when he launched an outboard powered inflatable from Middleton Beach, Albany, at the start a 17 hour duel with a whale ship.He turned to me and said: “We were mad.” The sea looked like it could swallow a 16 ft Zodiac inflatable in a moment and leave no trace.I see this view every year when visiting Albany for Christmas and often think of Jonny and his friends in 1977. I expressed what I’d always thought. “It’s not something I would ever have done,” I said. “You gu Read more:Chasing
Save the Whales T-Shirt 2008-03-08 19:07:26 The Ying and Yang whale motif created by the Whale & Dolphin Coalition in 1977 as part of a campaign of nonviolent direct action against Australia's last whaling station in Albany, Western Australia.The whales on the t-shirt have the box noses of sperm whales, the type of whale being hunted by Australia at that time.'Close Cheynes' is a reference to the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company, the last whaling company in Australia.The Whale & Dolphin Coalition brought to Australia Canadian Bob Hunter, Greenpeace's first president, to lend his expertise honed in the North Pacific against the Soviet whaling fleet ... using Zodiac inflatable boats to put people between harpoons and whales. The Whale & Dolphin Coalition later morphed into Greenpeace Australia.Classic 'Save The Whale' t-shi Read more:Shirt
Write Inside the heads of Australia's last whalers 2008-02-26 17:34:27 Chris Pash will be discussing the techniques used to write The Last Whale when giving a paper at The Art of the Real: National Creative Non-Fiction Conference at Newcastle University May 16-18.The Art of the Real is presented by the Literature, Cinema, Culture Research Group, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle and the Hunter Write
rs' Centre.The paper will discuss the paths and techniques to gift the reader with immediacy, a sense of now, of being inside the heads of real people creating history, sharing thoughts, fears, joys, wins and losses -- and to do all that with an accuracy true to the experience.The Last Whale narrative follows action recreated from memory mining through interviews, plus official documents including police witness statements, diaries an Read more:Australia
Whale Meat Prices Fall, Whaling Costs Rise 2008-02-12 20:05:10 Japan’s whaling industry is in trouble again -- this time it’s financial.Whale
meat prices fell in Japan while the cost of whaling operations in the Antarctic rose.The Institute of Cetacean Research, the body behind Japan’s whaling operations, is struggling to repay interest-free loans from the Japanese Government, according to a newspaper report.Apparently, Japan has been catching so many whales that this has increased supplies of whale meat to the market by thirty per cent. This caused a twenty per cent fall in price.At the same time the cost of whaling increased by ten per cent as the whaling fleet was expanded from five ships to six.And last year there was a fire onboard one of the ships. More cost.The Ashahi Shimbun reports: “Japan's research whaling has long been criticized f Read more:Prices
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Japanese Men Want Whale Hunt 2008-02-10 20:16:12 A majority of Japanese
support eating whale meat and want 'scientific' whaling operations in the Antarctic to continue, a Japanese newspaper reported.The Asahi Shimbun, a large circulation daily newspaper in Japan, said: "In a poll, 56 per cent of Japanese, mainly men, said they support eating whale meat, while 26 per cent are opposed."Around sixty-five per cent favour the continuation of Japan's research whaling operations despite strong international opposition.Support was stronger among men -- close to eighty per cent of men in their forties, fifties and sixties. Younger women were more likely to oppose whaling. The newspaper conducted a telephone survey of 2,082 people on February 2 and February 3, 2008. The Japanese whaling fleet is currently in the Antarctic hunting Minke whales with Read more:Whale
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