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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 floes 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. A longer version of this interview was broadcast on 19th November 2020 and is available as a podcast in the Outlook feed.

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

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com

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27 minutes

Last on

Sun 27 Jun 2021 22:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 26 Jun 2021 08:32GMT
  • Sun 27 Jun 2021 08:32GMT
  • Sun 27 Jun 2021 22:32GMT

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