Sea Shepherd News
News Releases
http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_080415_2p.html
04/15/2008
Farley Mowat Pays Pirates Ransom to Free Sea Shepherd Captain and Mate
Captain Alex Cornelissen and 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt were freed
from solitary confinement in Sydney, Nova Scotia in the late afternoon
of April 14th, after Captain Paul Watson delivered $10,000 in
doubloons to the Nova Scotia courts.
“We do not view the arrests as lawful,” said Captain Watson. “These
men were seized from their Dutch flagged ****p on the high seas in
international waters by armed men who then commandeered the ****p and
the personal property of the crew. This was an act of piracy and we do
not recognize this as bail. It’s a ransom that we have been forced to
pay and since it’s a ransom being paid to pirates, it’s appropriate
that it has been paid in doubloons.”
The Canadian dollar coin is called a “loonie” and although the two
dollar coin is called a “toonie,” it really is a double loon and thus
a doubloon.
Upon his release from detention, Captain Alex Cornelissen responded to
re****ters who said that Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn claims the
Farley Mowat was in Canadian waters at the time it was boarded.
“Hearn is an absolute liar. We were 35 miles from land when we were
attacked and not once did we ever come close to the 12 mile limit. My
****p was taken by armed pirates under the direction of the Federal
Minister of Fisheries. I suppose he needed to do something dramatic to
distract from the fact that he was responsible for the deaths of four
sealers last month,” Cornelissen said.
The GPS unit on the Sea Shepherd ****p Farley Mowat has a record of the
movements of the ****p and is evidence that the ****p never entered
Canadian territorial waters.
The bond to secure the release of the two Sea Shepherd officers was
put up by Canadian author and naturalist Farley Mowat.
"I put up the bail and I will confirm now that I will use whatever
resources I've got, monetary and otherwise, to defend them," the
86-year-old environmentalist told CBC. “It's a pirate's ransom, and
that's just what they are," Mowat said from his home in ****t Hope
yesterday. "The great genius (Fisheries Minister) Loyola Hearn
deliberately goaded the Farley Mowat into doing something so police
(RCMP) could come and arrest them."
He added the "blood red bullies" (the Canadian Coast Guard) came up to
the Farley Mowatand invited the altercation by ramming the Sea
Shepherd ****p twice. "It was the Coast Guard who instigated it, not
the Farley Mowat," said Mowat.
Cornelissen and 1st Mate Peter Hammarstedt described their treatment
by the Canadian authorities as bizarre. Hammarstedt was accused by a
Mountie of being a member of Al Qaeda and asked when he was going to
carry out the next 9-11 attack. Both Peter and Alex remained quiet and
said nothing to the authorities in response to questions.
“Our position was that we were prisoners illegally taken from our ****p
on the high seas and forced at gunpoint to enter Canada. We did not
and will not cooperate with these people. They acted unlawfully,” said
Hammarstedt. “It was however fascinating to watch the empty headed
bureaucratic mind in operation. They brought me before a Canadian
immigration officer in hand cuffs and I only had the ****rt on my back.
The Federal Fisheries officers had taken my money, my pass****t, and my
belongings yet this man asked me with a straight face if I had
anything to declare. He asked if I had any firearms on me. He asked if
I had any alcohol on me. He asked if I had more than $10,000 in cash
on me. He asked how long I intended to stay in Canada. His actions
were robotic and the man clearly was incapable of observing the fact
that I could not possibly be carrying alcohol, guns or cash. I guess I
could have declared the handcuffs but I decided to not say a word
which clearly frustrated everyone.”
Meanwhile Premier Danny Williams called Captain Paul Watson a
“terrorist” on national television. When asked for his response to
this Captain Watson stated, “Mr. Williams should then arrest me or
shut up.”
“I have never been convicted of any felony, I am not on any no-fly
lists, I am not barred from entry into any country, I have not ever
injured a single person and I have never threatened anyone’s life,”
said Watson. “So just what kind of terrorist does this guy think I am?
Williams is just another Nufie politician shooting his mouth off about
things he does not understand. I suggest that he opens a dictionary
and searches for the definition of words before he uses them.”
Hammarstedt has been ordered de****ted to Sweden and Cornelissen to the
Netherlands. Captain Cornelissen intends to meet with representatives
of the Dutch government to re****t an act of piracy against a Dutch
vessel. The Sea Shepherd ****p Farley Mowat has been seized without any
explanation or charges laid against it.
Sea Shepherd International Chair Farley Mowat appeared on National
television to defend Sea Shepherd from the attacks by the government.
"A gross miscarriage of justice has been perpetrated by Fisheries
Minister Loyola Hearn and any Canadian with any conscience would try
to rectify it," he said in an interview from his home in ****t Hope,
Ontario. "I have some conscience - not much - and a little money - not
much - so I'm putting both to use and I'm doing my best to rectify a
wrong."
Canadian government officials have resorted to schoolyard name calling
in their defense of the sealers. "I consider Watson to be a
terrorist," Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams said. Loyola Hearn
called seal defenders "a bunch of money-sucking manipulators."
"Ever since I've been aware of him, I've always considered Paul Watson
to be, you know, a vile, disgusting excuse for a human being."
Farley Mowat retaliated and called both Williams and Hearn
"guttersnipes."
"They're big mouths," he said. "They'll call anybody anything but if
someone turns around and calls them what they are, Lord Jesus me son,
then the **** hits the fan."
Hearn, bristling at Mowat's comments, remarked on one of the author's
better-known books about Newfoundland life, "The Boat Who Wouldn't
Float."
"I'd suggest to Mr. Mowat and Mr. Watson this one is not going to
float either," Hearn said outside the House of Commons.
The bottom line in this controversy is that Sea Shepherd has struck a
nerve. Sea Shepherd is being attacked in the Canadian House of
Commons. The story is being covered internationally and the images of
the slaughter of the seals are being published worldwide.
“Mr. Hearn’s actions have been good for this campaign,” said Captain
Watson. “Last week I jokingly said that the best publicity we could
get is if Canada storms the vessel in international waters but that I
did not think that he was that stupid. It appears that I was wrong.”
Hearn has appeared hysterical, hilarious and almost frothing at the
mouth in anger over Sea Shepherd actions.
“Psychology 101 is sufficient to predict and control Hearn’s
behaviour,” said Watson. “All we need to do is push his buttons and he
responds like an angry wind-up doll. It’s great.”
The latest Hearnism is the Minister comparing himself to Wyatt Earp
and comparing Canada to a new Dodge City welcoming us to Canada where
he is the new “sheriff.”
According to Hearn there ain’t room enough in Dodge for Sea Shepherd.
Captain Watson laughed and said, “Anytime, anyplace, face to face, you
and I for a debate Loyola. You called me gutless, but do you have the
guts to debate me in a public forum. Hell, I’ll even let your pal
Danny Williams back you up. It will be rhetoric at twenty paces and we
can duke it out with verbs, words and blurbs. What do ya say – punk?”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.O. Box 2616, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 (USA) Tel: 360-370-5650 Fax:
360-370-5651
Copyright © 2008 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. All rights
reserved.
|
