Whale Wars: Season 3 (2010)
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Episode 1: Surrounded by spies
The third season opens with Captain Paul Watson leading three ships from different ports on a campaign against whaling in the Antarctic. However, both the Ady Gil and the MV Bob Barker experience setbacks, preventing them from joining the MV Steve Irwin. One of the Japanese whaling ships, the Shōnan Maru 2, soon follows the Steve Irwin in order to alert the whaling fleet. Watson and the Sea Shepherds take evasive action.
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Episode 2: Crossing danger
The Shōnan Maru 2 continues to closely follow the Steve Irwin. The Sea Shepherds force the Japanese ship to back off so they can safely stow the helicopter. Meanwhile the crew of the Bob Barker successfully repair their broken main engines and get underway to rendezvous with the Steve Irwin. The Ady Gil suffers the loss of two crew members and brings in two more former Earthrace members along with a new radar. Back in Antarctic waters, the Steve Irwin steers into an ice pack in a failed attempt to lose the Shōnan Maru 2 tailing them.
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Episode 3: From hells heart
No description.
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Episode 4: Stealth attack
No description.
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Episode 5: The thrill of the chase
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Episode 6: Sliced in two
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Episode 7: Revenge is mine
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Episode 8: Ready to snap
Pete Bethune's attempt to board the Shōnan Maru 2 is aborted. Some of the Ady Gil's crew on the Bob Barker want to go home, and later have an argument with Chuck. The Bob Barker's engineer discovers that they are critically low on engine oil. On the Steve Irwin, a decision is made to go to port to fix the grounded helicopter, and a plan emerges to rendezvous with the Bob Barker to transfer water and engine oil and pick up the Ady Gil's crew to take back to port. The rendezvous is conducted in French waters so the Shōnan Maru 2 cannot follow. During the rendezvous, a storm damages the small inflatable boats, one of which goes adrift. The next day, an attempt to recover the drifting boat almost succeeds but an unwise attempt to use its engine in shallow water ruins its propeller. With their resources dwindling, the two boats separate again, and the Bob Barker makes a decision to avoid the Shōnan Maru 2 by steaming towards a storm.
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Episode 9: A bloody trail
The Bob Barker spots the Nisshin Maru. After a brief discussion of using the helicopter offensively, rather than defensively, Paul Watson is aware of at least three harpoon ships moving in on the Bob Barker as darkness falls upon the night and freezing rain frightens the crew. To kill time, one of the deckhands, Malcolm Holland, skydives out of a helicopter and glides back onto the deck with a perfect landing to a warm round of applause and cheers, especially from the captain and helicopter pilot. The cheerful atmosphere quickly fades as they close in on the Nisshin Maru and get outflanked by the four harpoon boats which encircle and trap the Bob Barker inside their perimeter. Once the harpoon boats has formed a circular ring around the Bob Barker, the Nisshin Maru tries to make a fast break. With no other choice and time running out, the Sea Shepherds try to break the blockade. The plan does not go according to plans as the Bob Barker collides with one of the harpoon ships on its starboard side, ripping a hole in the steel hull.
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Episode 10: Zero hour
The deckhands rappel over the side of the ship to assess the damage from the collision and realize that there is a hole in the steel hull. The gash is above the waterline so there is no fear of the ship sinking but water is coming in as it splashes against the hull. Unable to stop for fear of losing the factory ship, and due to the wet conditions, a permanent patch cannot be welded on and a makeshift patch of raincoats and Styrofoam blocks are used to hold back most of the water. The collision appears to have shaken the Japanese as well as they hang back with their harpoon ships. This allows the Bob Barker to take up position blocking the slipway at the rear of the Nisshin Maru. News reaches the Steve Irwin of the Barker's success, encouraging the crew. Attempting to catch the Barker and the Japanese fleet, Watson realizes that the Japanese are heading right for them. Less than a day later, the Steve Irwin spots the fleet and the Barker. Watson rendezvous with Barker and takes up the lead position behind the spillway while the Barker falls back to block the harpoon boats should they try to make a move. Now with two ships working in tandem, the Sea Shepards have completely shut down the Japanese fleet's whaling operation. For the next four days, the factory ship is unable to process any whales nor are the harpoon ships able to shake the Sea Shepards off the Nisshin Maru. Watson then begins to plot their next move to harass the factory ship and its crew.
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Episode 11: Fire in the sky
No description.
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Episode 12: Vendetta
Pete Bethune uses photographs of the Shonan Maru 2 taken from the helicopter to plan his boarding attempt. In the meantime, the Japanese fleet steers into a storm hoping to lose the Sea Shepherds. Paul Watson defends a claim by the Japanese that the Sea Shepherds actions injured their crews with acid burns, and postulates that the Japanese crew actually sprays themselves when they use pepper spray to defend their ship. The Steve Irwin attempts to flood the Nisshin Maru's engine room by directing their water cannon into its exhaust funnel, but it doesn't work. They then use the small boats to cover the Nisshin Maru's slipway with butyric acid, it meets with more success. However, the Shonan Maru 2 leaps at the opportunity when one of the small boats' engines die, and it is rescued just in time. Pete Bethune demonstrates a well-thought-out plan to board the Shonan Maru 2. As the episode ends, the boarding attempt is put into motion.
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Episode 13: To the ends of the earth
Pete Bethune's boarding of the Shonan Maru 2 commences; after several tense minutes of waiting, the Sea Shephards receive words that he has succeeded despite the Japanese ship's defenses. At daylight, the helicopter is launched to document Bethune confronting of the Shonan Maru's captain. He disappears into the bridge, and after the confrontation, no more is seen of him. The Sea Shepherds resume their pursuit of the factory ship, which makes a sudden course change, separating it from Bethune on the Shonan Maru 2. As the Shonan Maru disappears, the Sea Shepherds call Bethune a hero because his custody will carry awareness of the whaling controversy long past the end of the whaling season, and a media frenzy erupts on Bethune's boarding and capture. As they pursue the Nisshin Maru into Antarctic pack ice, the Bob Barker's larger fuel capacity and better iceworthiness puts it in the lead while the Steve Irwin falls back and eventually leaves for port when their fuel runs low. The Sea Shepherds learn that the whaling fleet is more than 500 whales short of their quota, the most successful season they have had to date.
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Episode 14: From pirate to prisonor
Special episode with a full interview with Pete Bethune after his arrest in Japan.
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