After power was restored to part of the ship, the MV Steve Irwin finally finds, follows, and comes face to face two times with the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru, which Watson considers the "most evil" vessel in international waters. A pod of whales swims between the two "warring" ships, which eventually engage in a ship-to-ship "battle". The captain of the Nisshin Maru warned on a recorded message sent multiple times through a horn that "If you dare board this vessel, you will be taken into custody". Recruited Sea Shepherds are the first to strike, throwing stink bombs with Butyric acid onto the decks of the Nisshin Maru, which dwarfed the Steve Irwin in size, while its crew watches and films the Steve Irwin. The Japanese whalers claim that three of their crewmembers were injured by the stink bombs. When the two ships meet the second time, the Steve Irwin crew strikes first again while the Nisshin Maru crew, in return, threatens to use tear gas grenades and throws flash bombs. Watson fishes a metallic fragment from his vest and claims to have been shot. As Watson concluded that the second leg of the mission was successful, the Sea Shepherds claimed that they have saved about 500 whales. The Steve Irwin returns to Melbourne again before running out of fuel.

Whale Wars Season 1 Episodes...

• s01e01 - Needle in a Haystack
• s01e02 - Nothing's Ideal
• s01e03 - International Incidents R Us
• s01e04 - We Are Hooligans
• s01e05 - Doors Slamming and Things Breaking
• s01e06 - Ladies First
• s01e07 - Boiling Point

Whale Wars Show Summary

Captain Paul Watson founded his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977 because he believed his new organization had to go even further to eradicate whaling, poaching, shark finning and habitat destruction - and to uphold international conservation laws on the high seas - than the Greenpeace group he had co-founded.

For several years, Watson's group of staff and volunteers have engaged in a campaign almost every winter to find and stop Japanese ships that hunt whales in the name of research, attempting to stop them by any non-unhappy means necessary. The eclectic group - labeled activists, heroes and/or eco-pirates - leave port in Melbourne, Australia for a two-month campaign that is dangerous, controversial and has garnered international media attention. Sea Shepherd's dedicated, international crew have spent their holiday the last several years and risked their lives at the bottom of the Earth to save whales. (Source: Animal Planet)