The Whale Warriors The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planets Largest Mammals, Peter Heller. (Paperback 141653248X) Used Book available for Swap

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The Whale Warriors The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals
Author: Peter Heller

For the crew of the eco-pirate ship the Farley Mowat, any day saving a whale is a good day to die. In The Whale Warriors, veteran adventure writer Peter Heller takes us on a hair-raising journey with a vigilante crew on their mission to stop illegal Japanese whaling in the stormy, remote seas off the forbidding shores of Antarctica. The F... more »arley is the flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and captained by its founder, the radical environmental enforcer Paul Watson. The Japanese, who are hunting endangered whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, in violation of several international laws, know he means business: Watson has sunk eight whaling ships to the bottom of the sea.For two months, Heller was aboard the vegan attack vessel as it stalked the Japanese whaling fleet through the howling gales and treacherous ice off the pristine Antarctic coast. The ship is all black, flies under a Jolly Roger, and is outfitted with a helicopter, fast assault Zodiacs, and a seven-foot blade attached to the bow, called the can opener. As Watson and his crew see it, the plight of the whales is also about the larger crisis of the oceans and the eleventh hour of life as we know it on Earth. The exploitation of endangered whales is emblematic of a terrible overexploitation of the seas that is now entering its desperate denouement. The oceans may be easy to ignore because they are literally under the surface, but scientists believe that the world's oceans are on the verge of total ecosystem collapse. Our own survival is in the balance. With Force 8 gales, monstrous seas, and a crew composed of professional gamblers, Earthfirst! forest activists, champion equestrians, and ex-military, the action never stops. In the ice-choked water a swimmer has minutes to live. The Japanese factory ship is ten times the tonnage of the Farley. The sailors on board both ships know that there will be no rescue in this desolate part of the ocean. Watson presses his enemy while Japan threatens to send down defense aircraft and warships, Australia appeals for calm, New Zealand dispatches military surveillance aircraft, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence issues a piracy warning, and international media begin to track the developing whale war. For the Sea Shepherds there is no compromise. If the charismatic, intelligent Great Whales cannot be saved, there is no hope for the rest of the planet. Watson aims his ship like a slow torpedo and gives the order: "Tell the crew, collision in two minutes." In 35-foot seas, it is a deadly game of Antarctic chicken in which the stakes cannot be higher.

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ISBN-13: 9781416532484
ISBN-10: 141653248X
Publication Date: 10/14/2008
Pages: 320
Edition: Reprint
Rating:

Currently 4/5 Stars.

4 stars, based on 6 ratings

Publisher: Free Press
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
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Jeffrey B. (coastiejeff) - , reviewed The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals on 11/30/2007 + 12 more book reviews

An insider look at the efforts by the Sea Shepherd group to halt whaling in the Southern Ocean. At times this reads like the extension of a magazine article that it is, with long passages on nothing much at all happening as the group's ship, the FARLEY MOWAT, searches for the fleet and a final chapter that feels like it goes from 0-60 as he wraps up the book. Without spoiling too much, Heller might have had a better book if he'd tagged along in 2006 than 2005!

While adamently opposed to whaling, Heller does a good job of staying neutral in his opinions of Sea Shepherds tactics and lets the reader decide if their "Anti-Greenpeace" approach is the right one and if their leader, Paul Watson, is crazy like a fox or just place crazy.

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