Just as the whaling ship's captain and sailors watched the blue whale rapidly approaching beneath the surface, their faces filled with terror and despair, the whale suddenly dove deeper. Its body brushed past the bottom of their lifeboat, and they could even hear its back scraping against the boat's hull!
It took quite a while for its thirty-meter-long body to pass beneath them. That long scraping sound lingered in their ears, a tremendous torment to them!
The entire lifeboat was deathly silent. The air was thick with the stench of urine, yet no one said a word.
Only after the scraping sound faded did the people aboard breathe a slight sigh of relief. But thinking of the whale lurking beneath the water, able to attack them at any moment, the captain immediately shouted in panic toward the anti-whaling ship beside them.
"Get us aboard, now! That monster is going to eat us!"
The people aboard the anti-whaling vessel exchanged looks, then all turned to a middle-aged man with graying hair and beard. He was Paul Watson, the founder of the Ocean Guardian Association, and it had been he who ordered lifebuoys thrown to the whaling crew in the water.
Under the gazes of the Sea Shepherd members, Paul Watson looked at the blue whale swimming slowly beneath the surface. With a grim expression, he flatly refused.
"That's a blue whale. He doesn't eat people! You're already safe. You don't need our rescue!"
Throwing them lifebuoys earlier had already been the greatest help he could offer out of humanitarian concern. Now that they had boarded their lifeboat and would not drown, Paul Watson would offer them no further assistance, much less allow them aboard his ship.
The reason was not merely the conflict between the two sides, but also a ruling