October 10, 2023

In March 2013, I left the helm of the M/V STEVE IRWIN off the coast of Tasmania and transferred to the BRIGITTE BARDOT to begin 6 months of exile in the South Pacific before being allowed by U.S. Secretary John Kerry to return to the United States.

It was the last time I saw the flagship that I commanded from 2006 until 2013, the ship that led the campaigns to oppose illegal Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, the ship that freed 800 Bluefin tuna from illegal nets off Libya in 2011 and interfered with the killing of pilot whales in the Faroe Islands also in 2011.

After Operation Zero Tolerance, the ship was moored in Williamstown, Victoria in Australia. My cabin was looted and most of my possessions were stolen.

When I left the ship, it was in good running order. We had just installed new props and overhauled the main engines but without consulting with me, Sea Shepherd Australia and Sea Shepherd Global decided to scrap the ship.

I angrily opposed this decision but was overruled. That is when Kerrie Goodall stepped in. She spent some $80K to take care of the ship and finally made a deal with Sea Shepherd Australia to buy the ship for $10. After that Jeff Hansen and Sea Shepherd Australia turned their back on her and said they wanted nothing more to do with the ship. Jeff did not want Sea Shepherd volunteers to work with Kerrie and told the port of Williamstown that Kerrie was not connected with and did not have the support of Sea Shepherd Australia.

Jeff is an administrator and has zero experience in running and maintaining ships. It was not surprising that he was eager to rid himself of a ship that was taking away funds he needed to pay himself and his growing staff of fund raisers.

Kerrie was forced to have the ship towed to New Castle in New South Wales where she established Ship4Good M/V Steve Irwin to preserve the history of the ship that forced the Japanese Whaling fleet out of the Southern Ocean.

Now Jeff Hansen is demanding that she remove the Sea Shepherd name and the iconic Jolly Roger logo claiming her use of the name and logo is a trademark violation.

This is simply another attempt to censor their own history. Anything connected to myself is to be removed and there is nothing that connects Sea Shepherd to myself more than my former flagship the M/V STEVE IRWIN.

Sea Shepherd Global very disrespectfully sent the M/V BOB BARKER to a Turkish scrapyard.

But the fact that the STEVE IRWIN still exists and is now a marine conservation educational centre makes me feel proud to know that this great ship remains afloat both as an educational centre and as a monument to the great work the ship did for the cause of ocean conservation and to the great man whose name is emblazoned on the bow and stern, the amazing Steve Irwin.

Kerrie Goodall has done an incredible job in taking care of the STEVE IRWIN and giving our historic ship an on-going purpose and value and for that she deserves to be commended and not belittled and attacked by Jeff Hansen and Sea Shepherd Australia and their partners the Austral Fisheries Corporation and the Japanese Maruha Daichiro Fisheries company.

I cannot even post a picture of my own former flagship without having my facebook page restricted for trademark violations.