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Last updated on June 24th, 2017 at 10:35 am
Paul Watson’s Sea Shepherd suckmob – known for attacking harmless Japanese mammal pokers – aren’t so tough when confronted by furious French fishermen:
On Friday, Watson’s vessel, the Farley Mowat, was confronted at the wharf by two dozen residents of St-Pierre, the capital of the French territory south of Newfoundland.
Police confirmed local fishermen confronted the activists and the ship left after its lines were cut with axes.
Fisherman Carl Beaupertuis, 47, said when he heard Watson’s comments about the sealers killed in a capsizing last Saturday, he was furious.
“We cut the ropes … because the fishermen of St-Pierre don’t accept what Paul Watson said,” he said. “He’s not allowed to come in the harbour any more. It’s finished for him.”
His accent would really have made that final line kick. Read on for the beautifully dismissive views of French government official Andre Varcin, who sounds as though he stepped straight out of Casablanca.
UPDATE. Further from fisherman Carl, who in a more enlightened age would have received a medal by now:
• “Our anger was stronger than anything else and we didn’t wait for the authorities to react.”
• “We don’t accept those kinds of people in St-Pierre. We cut the rope and let the boat go … If they want to come back I tell you this time there’s going to be some violence, ’cause we won’t let him back in the harbour. No way.”
According to another report, Beaupertuis was joined by about one hundred other fishermen in chasing away Watson and his fellow idiots. It’s a seafaring version of “Sod off, Swampy”, with enchanting overtones of “We’ll set about ye”.
Hehe, those Frenchies, If they get riled there’s no stopping them!
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2008 04 05 at 11:52 AM • permalink
Somebody needs to buy a torpedo or two for his ship and have it at the ready the next time his vessel is threatened.
Posted by Jeffersonian on 2008 04 05 at 11:53 AM • permalink
Varcin said the islands do not intend to block Watson from returning, saying “he can return at his own risk and peril.”
Woo-hoo!
Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 04 05 at 12:40 PM • permalink
I like St. Pierre & Miquelon a whole lot more!
Dave S, shame on you for not previously knowing real men lived on French soil so close to you.
It couldn’t be as bad as having Berkely California near to you, surely?
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2008 04 05 at 12:46 PM • permalink
#3 They may call themselves French, but really they are just Canadians who haven’t gotten with the program yet.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 05 at 02:10 PM • permalink
St. Pierre & Miquelon know damn well the sea is dangerous enough with these idiots bobbing around on it…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 04 05 at 04:40 PM • permalink
Sometimes it’s hard to hate the French. Maybe they ought to turn some of those disaffected car-b-queing youths loose on Watson and crew.
And speaking of the Sea Shepherd suckmob, Animal Planet is giving them free publicity.
Posted by Polish Frizzle on 2008 04 05 at 05:01 PM • permalink
I looked up the French territory on the web – as I’d never heard of it – and found some online photo albums. One resident had a swag of shots of the ship that was chased off. Like all Greenpeace ships it’s in a pretty parlous state of disrepair. What a rust bucket! It gives you some idea of what public transport in Australia would look like if Bob Brown was ever elected PM.
Posted by Abu Chowdah on 2008 04 05 at 05:35 PM • permalink
While Im not for the clubbing of baby seals, and killing of whales, I’ll side with the French in this. The tactics of Watson and his ilk are despicable.
Posted by Deborah Leigh on 2008 04 05 at 05:38 PM • permalink
Conservative talk show host Dennis Prager has an interesting question that folks like Watson might would definitely answer differently from most of us. If your pet and a stranger were drowning, who would you save?
Posted by Deborah Leigh on 2008 04 05 at 05:47 PM • permalink
- #18 Deborah
Woudln’t Watson be one of those people who thinks that noone should have pets? All animals should be free to roam in the wild, not constrained or held captive by humans?(first it was wool and sheep mulseing, then it was the zoos, then it was meat… it’s never going to end. A good use for PETA? Soylent Green.)Perhaps Watson has a pet rock.
Yeah, that’s it.
He’d save the pet.
#17 Watson revealed his misanthropy by stating the loss of 4 seaman was a good thing if it saved a seal, which are much more important, apparently.
Elizabeth May, Federal Leader, Silly Green Party, resigned her position on the board of directors of Sea Shepherd. Thus, Tim’s headline “SHEPHERDESSES SCATTER” is more true than he realised.
BTW The political green parties around the world should be called out for their misanthropy.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 05 at 05:54 PM • permalink
- Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 05 at 06:13 PM • permalink
#12: I’ll leave it to Wimpy Canadian to sort me out if I’m wrong, but I’m thinking that the people who originally immigrated to Canada from France were definitely a cut above the ones who stayed behind. From all I’ve read, they were a very tough breed, extraordinarily intrepid explorers, and had a knack for getting on with the Indian tribes that the British lacked. I think Monsieur Watson is lucky his vessel wasn’t scuttled in the harbor.
Speaking as someone who has jumped into New York Harbor after a drowning dog—and yes, it pretty much tastes like it looks— save the straqnger, then kick his ass if my pet drowned.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2008 04 05 at 06:25 PM • permalink
#23 Quite so Paco. Those who went from France to
New FranceCanada were, like those who went to New England or Australia, desperados. Women who were accused of witchcraft, guys who needed to escape the law, harlots, and the like. These people were tough as nails but went to Nouvelle France as their last chance.Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 05 at 06:27 PM • permalink
Paco, further info is maybe required. The French Canadians generally dislike, intensely, the “French”; rather like the disdain of Americans for English snobbery. But it is deeper, as the French Canadians resent the French for effectively deserting, or disowning, them. They remained loyal; it was the “mother country” that split. See Voltaire’s “plusieur arpents de neige”
This is why the Quebec nationalists talk of “La Nation Quebecoise”, not “La Nation Francaise”. They carved out their own home and it is distinctly French and not French at the same time.
Your welcome to bring the Pacoistas up here for a holiday if you wish to experience it.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 05 at 06:41 PM • permalink
- Oh crap.
I read the headline and thought Marilyn Shepherd had been drawn and quartered…Posted by Nikki 2000 on 2008 04 05 at 07:26 PM • permalink
- Paco
Like this chap? Note though that “he was consequently tortured to death by his allies.” It was a rough crowd to run with.CheersPosted by J.M. Heinrichs on 2008 04 05 at 07:35 PM • permalink
Can’t recall if was already discussed here but did anyone believe the story about Watson getting shot by the Japanese? Is there any evidence that Watson wore a bullet-proof vest before the alleged incident? Struck me was convenient that he had one on on that particular day. And what about the rest of the lunatics? Did they have jackets or was it a case of look after Watson and let the rest be martyrs.
Either way, not much of the spirit of Nelson but an awful lot of Blackbeard in the captain.
If the seals were being hunted to near extinction, I might see a reason for Watson’s terrorist tactics. But, I googled, and found some interesting numbers. The hunt was restricted to 270,000 seals in 2007. Sounds like a lot, till you see the total estimated population is 5.5 million seals. If the hunts are monitored and controlled to protect the seal population, it doesn’t appear to be any different than any other wild game hunting/trapping….so what’s the big deal?
Oh yeah, seals are cute.
I have never been to Indiannapolis, but anywhere I meat this:
Floor sinks to accommodate prayer requirements for Muslim taxi drivers will be installed at Indianapolis International Airport by fall.
I shall walk in saying “Piss be upon him”
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 05 at 08:51 PM • permalink
Hunh. I believe I shall request a Jewish taxi driver, if there is such a thing.
Posted by SwampWoman on 2008 04 05 at 08:57 PM • permalink
Champlain is detested by the “5 nation Iroquois” because he supported a raid by their “enemy”, who they happened to be beating up, with a few choice vollies of musket fire, something they had never seen before. Big famous thing. It happened around Lake George.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 05 at 09:00 PM • permalink
#32 & #33, Ah yes the magic bullet. I’d like to meet the bloke who fired that bullet, thats one hell of a shot from a handgun. Fired from one moving ship to another with enough accuracy to hit near watson’s
heartblood pump.We know it wasnt a rifle because rifles go straight through ‘bullet proof’ vests. Thats why the military types have large strike plates in them. To stop rifle bullets.
I’d say this is just a clear example of lefties who’ve seen far to many action movies and think that all guns are the same, trying to paint the japs as even more evil than they really are.
Anyway, aren’t people less important than whales? Or is that only seal hunters?
Posted by The_Wizard_of_WOZ on 2008 04 05 at 09:26 PM • permalink
Two of the Sea Sheperd crew climbed aboard & Japanese whaler (to deliver a letter, haha)
I note that Sea Shepherd crew took no similar “board & sabotage” incident at the St. Pierre dock.
Posted by Steve at the pub on 2008 04 05 at 09:27 PM • permalink
Shepherd floccinaucinihilipilification
Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 05 at 10:17 PM • permalink
- Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 05 at 11:51 PM • permalink
- #49
Yes we are slow today. Went off Saturday.Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 06 at 07:17 AM • permalink
#18- My pet would rescue the stranger, and I could pop the tops off a six pack or three and see which meeja organisation is the highest bidder.
Psst… that should be quelques arpents de neige.
#47:
The difference between the sturdy folk of St-Pierre-et-Miquelon and French Canadians is simply the fact that these islands remained under French rule after the Treaty of Paris in 1763. So while the French population of the Canadas became British subjects, the population of St-Pierre-et-Miquelon remained French ones.
They are an interesting bunch and have been known for “direct action” before. Apparently, unpopular préfets (in the French government system, the representative in a département/territoire) have been bundled away from their residence, thrown in a dory and pushed out to sea. The local gendarmerie would then get a call: “We didn’t like that préfet. Tell Paris to send a new one.”
Posted by JJM Ballantyne on 2008 04 06 at 09:20 AM • permalink
#47 The Cajuns were French evicted from New Brunswick A.K.A. Acadia.
Posted by Wimpy Canadian on 2008 04 06 at 12:32 PM • permalink
Someone needs to buy Beaupertuis and his colleagues a beer or 10.