Thunder was an illegal fishing boat owned by the Spanish criminal syndicate Vidal Armadores. It is a well known fugitive and the most notorious of all the Bandit 6 and has never been caught. In 2015 Sea Shepherd tailed Thunder to Africa and it was scuttled by her own captain in the waters off Sao Tome and Principe.
History[]
Thunder began it's poaching career in 1969 as a Norwegian fishing trawler. Since then Thunder has used many alias including Vesturvón, Arctic Ranger, Rubin, Typhoon I, Kuko, and Wuhan N4.
Operation Icefish[]
On December 17, 2014 Thunder was caught poaching in the CCAMLR Banzare Banks Fishery with gillnets in plain sight. Captain Peter Hammarstedt pulled out an Interpol Purple Notice and radioed to Thunder that they were under arrest, told them to surrender their vessel, and head to Fremantle to surrender to Interpol. Thunder tried to evade the Bob Barker and failed to communicate to them in broken Spanish. Once Thunder heard the Bob Barker was sent to arrest them they dropped their gillnets and fled.
Thunder Manhunt[]
Thunder gets scuttled by her own captain and sinks with a full boat load of Toothfish. The crew were taken by Sea Shepherd to Sato Tome and Principe where they were arrested by Interpol. The crew are now in jail awaiting extradition to Spain where some of them will receive life in prison for piracy and poaching.
For 110 days the Bob Barker chased the Thunder to Africa and on the morning April 6, 2015 it sank off the coast of Sao Tome and Principe with a full boat load of toothfish and deliberately sank by her captain and crew. The Bob Barker and the Sam Simon rescued the crew and transported them to Sao Tome and Principe where they were arrested by INTERPOL for poaching and piracy.