Ask a Sea Shepherd Crew Member

Many people ask me what its like to be a Sea Shepherd crew member. I've been on five separate trips with the Sea Shepherds and spent a total of two years on board, so I feel that I have enough experience to speak on the matter.

This is not a very easy question to answer. There are times on the ship when I've desperately wanted to go home and never return. There are also times when there is no place that I'd rather be. And there's everything in between.

The first time you get on board can set the tone for the whole campaign. I hate to say it but if there are too many young people on the crew, then morale is poor. I believe that it's because 19 and 20 year olds don't know themselves enough to handle the stress of being a sailor.

Let me also clear. Much of what we do on board—in port or at sea—is the same things sailors all over the world do. You have to live communally with room mates that you haven't chosen. You have to deal with the ferocity of the ocean on the ocean's terms. Dealing with nature on it's own terms is enough to turn most people off.

During the 2007 Antarctic Whaling campaign we came through a force 11 storm with the Robert Hunter. For all of you land lubbers a force 11 storm means winds at more than 100 kilometers per hour and waves 37 feet high.

Just brushing my teeth was one of the most physically difficult things I've ever done. I had one hand against the wall and both legs spread as much as I could to keep my balance. I was still thrown off my feet.

Dealing with the elements is one thing. Dealing with the closed-in conditions can send people over the edge. The Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat is a very small ship. 173 feet long and 33 feet wide sounds large for some of you who've been on smaller boats on inland waters, but it gets real small when you are away from land for more than six weeks.

My first Antarctic campaign was in 2002. We left in December and came back 46 days later in January 2003. Not only was the trip long, we also didn't find the whalers. We spent all that time getting on each other's nerves. There were a few punches thrown, feelings hurt and love made.

Some of my fellow crew members are able to stay with the ship for years at a time. I don't know how they can do it. You see so many people come and go that you become desensitized to new friendships. In 2000, I spent 7 months on board and saw the ship go from Seattle to the Galapagos Islands, Panama to Miami to Europe and the North Sea. I met 80 different crew members.

Please don't ask me all of their names.

If you get into a disagreement with another crew member—maybe you are a bit jealous of someone, or you just don't get along—you need to deal with it, directly. If you let it fester then it will quickly get out of control. In the normal world you can let problems go because you may never see that person again. On a ship you will not only see that person again, but you will be sitting across from them at every meal. You might even be working with them for eight ours every day.

If you disagree with how the ship runs, then you're really screwed. Only the captain decides where the ship goes and what is done when it gets there. Although the captain has the last word on things, the ship is run by small anarchies. Rarely does the official chain of command get followed.

It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Do-it-yourself is the motto of the crew. This can and does work very well. Sometimes people drop the ball.

More later….