The Whale Warriors, Peter Heller
The Whale Warriors, Peter Heller
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The Whale Warriors
The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals

Author: Peter Heller

Narrator: James Boles

Unabridged: 10 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/02/2007

Categories: Nonfiction, Nature, Animals


Synopsis

In the tradition of The Perfect Storm, The Whale Warriors takes us on a hair-raising journey aboard a whale-saving pirate ship with a vigilante crew whose mission is to stop illegal Japanese whaling in the stormy remote seas off Antarctica.

For two months, journalist Peter Heller rode aboard the vegan pirate ship Farley Mowat as it stalked its prey—a Japanese whaling fleet—through the storms and ice of Antarctica. The ship is black, flies under a jolly roger, and carries members of the Sea Shepherd Society, a radical environmental group who are willing to die to stop illegal whale hunting.

The Sea Shepherd ship, led by the charismatic Captain Paul Watson—a modern-day anti-Ahab—takes extreme risks in defense of whales and ratchets up the stakes. The ship is almost sunk twice, once in a force gale. Heller re-creates a nail-biting showdown when Watson and the crew attempt to ram an enormous Japanese whaling ship on the high seas, trying to tear open its hull with a steel blade called a "can opener." The crews on board both ships know that there will be no assistance in this desolate part of the ocean. In thirty-five-foot seas, it is a deadly game of Antarctic chicken and a fast-paced, rollicking adventure in which the stakes cannot be higher.

About Peter Heller

Peter Heller is a seasoned adventure journalist and a senior contributor to Outside magazine. Before tackling Tibet, he kayaked in the footsteps of Hemingway along the Cuban coastline, depicted in his exposé Cuba: A Dry Run. He is also the author of Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River and Set Free in China: Sojourns on the Edge. Peter lives in Denver, where he kayaks daily on a lake 100 yards from his front door.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Eric_W

This is a sobering book. The devastation wrecked on the world’s fisheries is extraordinary. 90% of the predatory fish, so essential to a healthy ecosystem, have been destroyed or fished out since 1950. Traditional food fish have all but disappeared. If we had any sense, we’d stop eating fish immedia......more

Goodreads review by Liza

It is difficult to review a book about a subject which one feels conflicted yet passionate about. Do I merely critique the writing? I don't think I can do that. The author, Peter Heller, is a journalist for Outside and a contributor to NPR, and besides that he lives in Denver, so you know which side......more

The whale warriors by Peter Heller certainly Paul Watson and his followers are that warriors. Doing work that is so important, trying to stop the useless slaughter of magnificent creatures. It completely blew me away written 10 years ago but the battle still continues check sea shepherd on you tube.......more

Goodreads review by William

My first introduction to Captain Paul Watson was in the documentary Shark Waters. In that situation I thought he came off as very heroic. After that I saw the Animal Planet series about the Sea Shepherd and I began to see the captain and crew in more of a critical light. This book led me towards mor......more