Next up in badass things old-school celebs are doing that you didn't even know about...
Did you know that Bob Barker, former host of "The Price Is Right," is helping fight crime on the high seas?
Well, he is. Take a minute to join me in a story about how we've got a celebrity-funded armada protecting the seas!
Once upon a time, Bob Barker bought a boat.
Note: Not Bob Barker's actual yacht. He might not even have a yacht. Image by WPPilot/Wikimedia Commons.
No. Not that kind of boat. I'm not here to tell you about Bob Barker's personal boats. Sure, sure — I bet they're cool but not as cool as THIS BOAT.
Note: This is the actual boat named "Bob Barker." I know. It looks so badass! Image by AussieLegend/Wikimedia Commons.
This is the boat Bob Barker bought for an organization called Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for millions of dollars.
Ian Urbina from The New York Times reported on Sea Shepherd, noting this about it:
"[It] describes itself as an eco-vigilante group, flies a variation of the Jolly Roger on its ships and often cites the motto, 'It takes a pirate to catch a pirate.' ... Sea Shepherd's goal was not just to protect a rapidly disappearing species of fish, its leaders said, but to show that flagrant violators of the law could be brought to justice."
Recently, Sea Shepherd Global (there are a lot of different Sea Shepherd satellites, so we need to be specific here!) trailed a boat called the Thunder, which had been stripped of its registration to Nigeria after having changed affiliations to countries several times while making $76 million in illegal sales over the past decade. It was allegedly carrying tons of Chilean sea bass — an often illegally traded fish — when Sea Shepherd and the Bob Barker started trailing it.
Chilean sea bass, aka the Patagonian toothfish. Image by U.S. Food and Drug Administration/Wikimedia Commons.
Chilean sea bass, an "ugly bottom dweller" only found in some of the most frigid waters on Earth, is disappearing at what some scientists say is an unsustainable rate. But the environmental factor of these fish being on their way to disappearance is only the beginning of the problem.
Because this fish is so valuable, ships like the Thunder go rogue to catch it. The treatment of their crew is as unregulated and unchecked as their treatment of the ocean. And one can only imagine where that $76 million dollars of illegal money has gone over the last decade.
That's where the Sea Shepherd organization and their boats come in. After a very iceberg-y, scary pursuit — one that involved the captain of the Thunder telling the crew of the Bob Barker by radio, "You started this war," after the crew of the Bob Barker cut the Thunder's nets — the Thunder, and all its allegedly illegal fish, sank to the bottom of the ocean. No one was hurt. Why? Well, the Bob Barker and another Sea Shepherd ship, the Sam Simon, rescued the crew of the Thunder.
There's no word on whether or not the bad guys' boat sunk on purpose or by accident because there weren't exactly any unbiased third parties present. But, according to the crew of the Sam Simon, the Thunder's captain saw his boat sink and did a fist pump and cheer.
Because the ocean essentially has no single ruler, and therefore no single entity to enforce rules, it's kinda up to these good-guy sea shepherds.
Are we talking about a vigilante navy funded in part by celebs? Yes. That's exactly what we're talking about.
Bob Barker funded the boat that got into this mini battle, and that's just the beginning. Bob's not the only one, either.
Wanna know which stars are involved?
Here are the ones who stood out the most to me, but their board of advisors includes many more — Sean Penn, Linda Blair, Pierce Brosnan, and others!
1. Bob Barker
Image by Iaksge/Wikimedia Commons.
He bought a boat! And Sea Shepherd, the organization he bought it for, named it after him.
2. Sam Simon, co-creator of "The Simpsons"
Image by Matt Waldron/Wikimedia Commons.
Sam Simon was a famously big-hearted philanthropist. He largely funded the $2 million purchase of Sam Simon the boat, and the rest is history.
Image by Saberwyn/Wikimedia Commons.
Iceberg-laden, illegal-sea-bass, sea-chasing history.
While the Bob Barker was hot on the tail of the Thunder, the Sam Simon was helping out with fuel, supplies, and other things on the high, icy seas of Chilean sea bass territory.
3. Martin Sheen
Image by Damon D'Amato/Wikimedia Commons.
That's right. Jeb Bartlett's been saving the sea all this time.
At a naming ceremony for the boat that shares his name, Sheen talked about his long history supporting Sea Shepherd's many endeavors to ... well ... save the ocean from bad guys.
"I have a long history of nearly 20 years supporting Sea Shepherd. In 1995, I was on campaign with Paul to try to protect baby harp seals from being clubbed in the Magdalen Islands. Paul, myself, and crew traveled to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Before we could fly out to the seals on the ice floes, a mob of angry sealers invaded the Magdalen Islands hotel where Sea Shepherd was staying. They broke down doors to enter Paul's room and attacked and beat him."
His boat is mainly involved in dealing with the issue of plastic debris in the oceans, but his longtime support of Sea Shepherd has certainly aided in putting them in the place where they are.
4. MacGyver!
Image by Themightyquill/Wikimedia Commons.
That is, Richard Dean Anderson, most famously known (to me) for playing MacGyver.
His pet cause is baby seals. He's worked with Sea Shepherd a lot to raise awareness around seal hunting.
5. Brigitte Bardot
Image by MGM/Wikimedia Commons.
She's got a Sea Shepherd boat too! It's an anti-whaling boat.
Image by AussieLegend/Wikimedia Commons.
Bardot went on a whaling trip with the founder of Sea Shepherd in 1977, and she's been involved ever since.
6. James Bond aka Sean Connery
Image via Rob Mieremet/Dutch National Archives/Wikimedia Commons.
He's on the International Advisory Board of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
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