Anti-whaling ship to sail from Hull for global mission

Hull has a long history of whaling, but a ship in the city's dock is preparing for a mission to prevent the practice.

A former Scottish Fisheries vessel is being made ready for a voyage to protect whales from Icelandic poachers.

The John Paul Dejoria will be captained by Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson, and crewed by volunteers.

Mr Watson, 72, said the four-month mission, due to begin in April, would "oppose criminal operations, not legitimate companies".

The ship will be captained by environmental activist Paul Watson, who was one of the founding members and directors of Greenpeace

Commercial whaling was banned by the International Whaling Commission in 1986 after some whales were driven almost to extinction.

Mr Watson said the ship, owned by his non-profit organisation, would "block, harass and get in the way", doing "anything possible" to prevent illegal whaling operations.

The John Paul Dejoria is being restored in Hull's William Wright Dock ahead of setting sail to Iceland in early April.

The ship's operations manager Locky Maclean said the mission would "definitely be high-stakes action at sea"

Its operations director Locky Maclean said: "Iceland left the International Whaling Commission in 1992, but since then has been whaling commercially and exporting most of their whale meat to Japan.

"So we are going to Iceland this summer to put an end to Icelandic whaling once and for all."

Mr Maclean said the ship would "put itself into harm's way" to prevent ships from harpooning whales.

There is a level of irony in the fact the anti-whaling expedition is setting sail from Hull, which was once a major whaling port.

The whaling trade in the city began in the 1600s and peaked around 1820 when 62 vessels returned with the produce from 688 whales worth about £250,000, according to Hull History Centre.

A whalebone factory was set up close to the city docks, with whale carcases used for everything from sofa backings to sieves and whale oil used to power street lighting and as an ingredient in margarine.

Volunteer crew member Paul Barker said now he was retired he had "decided to give some time to the preventing of the catching of whales"

The 26 crew members of the John Paul Dejoria will include Paul Barker, a retired driving examiner from Beverley, who will act as a deckhand on the mission.

Mr Barker said he "liked the idea of saving the whales".

"I don't want them to be killed. Many others don't too. So I decided to give some of my time to prevent it," he added.

Mr Barker, 63, took up sailing as a hobby when he retired but said so far his only experience on water was "on small boats".

He said the trip had given him "a reason to be really happy again".

A crew of volunteers hope to set sail from Hull in April to disrupt illegal whale hunting in Iceland