Fire, ice and thunder: A chase on the high seas
An endangered ice fish, the world's most notorious poaching vessel and an epic chase across three oceans; Peter Hammarstedt tells the dramatic tale of taking down the Thunder.
The Thunder was the most notorious and elusive poaching ship in the world; for ten years governments had struggled to catch it. Then, in 2014, a crew from the organisation Sea Shepherd - known for its anti-whaling activity - found it illegally hunting Patagonian toothfish in the ice flows of the Antarctic and decided to stop it. They pursued the Thunder for 110 days over 10,000 miles before a dramatic stand-off in the Gulf of Guinea. Captain Peter Hammarstedt, from Sea Shepherd, tells Jo Fidgen about the dramatic chase and eventually watching the Thunder as it burned.
On-board recordings in this piece are from the documentary Ocean Warriors: Chasing the Thunder, courtesy of Brick City TV.
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Mariana Des Forges
Photo: The Thunder surrounded by icebergs
Credit: Sea Shepherd
Last on
Broadcasts
- Thu 19 Nov 202012:06GMTBBC World Service
- Thu 19 Nov 202018:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Thu 19 Nov 202023:06GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Fri 20 Nov 202003:06GMTBBC World Service
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