Chase
On 7 August 2003, Australian Customs and Fisheries patrol vessel Southern Supporter spotted Viarsa 1 in Australian territorial waters near Heard Island. Suspecting the vessel of illegal fishing for toothfish, the Australians ordered the crew to stop. They fled, and this began a chase that would last for three weeks. The pair of vessels faced huge seas and numerous icebergs, and the rivalry was briefly suspended when the fishermen became lost in Antarctic sea ice and were directed to safety by the Australian sailors.
As the chase progressed across thousands of nautical miles of ocean, Southern Supporter was joined by the South African salvage tug John Ross and polar icebreaker SAS Agulhas and Falkland Islands-based British fisheries patrol boat Dorada. On August 28, after 3,900 nautical miles (7,200 km), the contingent, led by Australian Customs Officer Steve Duffy, surrounded Viarsa 1 2,000 nautical miles (4,000 km) south-west of Cape Town, South Africa.
Meanwhile a steaming party of Australian personnel flew to South Africa and boarded the oiler SAS Drakensberg, which met the other ships on September 3. Southern Supporter and Viarsa 1 arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on October 3. Viarsa 1 captain Ricardo Mario Ribot Cabrera and his four shipmates posted bail and were ordered to remain close by and await legal proceedings. They found lodging at a hostel for merchant seamen.
Read more about this topic: Viarsa 1
Famous quotes containing the word chase:
“At last these two stout erles did meet,
Like captaines of great might;”
—Unknown. Chevy Chase (l. 121–122)
“The beaux and the babies, the servant troubles, and the social aspirations of the other girls seemed to me superficial. My work did not. I was professional. I could earn my own money, or I could be fired if I were inefficient. It was something to get your teeth into. It was living.”
—Edna Woolman Chase (1877–1957)
“Did ye not hear it?—No; ‘twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o’er the stony street;
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)