New Zealand ship's captain and published author
Captain Peter James Bethune (born 4 April 1965) is a New Zealand ship's captain with 500 ton master licence, published author, producer of "The Operatives" TV show, and public speaker. He is the founder of "Earthrace Conservation". He works assisting countries in Asia, Central America and Africa with fisheries enforcement and anti-poaching. He is the holder of the world record for circumnavigating the globe in his powerboat "Earthrace", a wavepiercing trimaran powered with biofuels.
"Earthrace" was renamed the "Ady Gil" in 2009 and Bethune sailed it in Antarctica for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society[1] to disrupt Japanese whaling activities. The vessel was subsequently rammed by the "Shonan Maru 2", a Japanese whaling vessel. Bethune subsequently boarded the "Shonan Maru 2", presented the captain with an invoice for the "Ady Gil" and attempted to arrest him. Bethune was detained, taken back to Japan and charged with a number of offences related to his trespassing and assault. He received a suspended sentence.
In 2012, Bethune started "Earthrace Conservation", which works on conservation and environmental campaigns. His team consists of former military personnel, and they are involved in fisheries enforcement, anti-poaching, and stopping wildlife smuggling. Many of the missions have been filmed and made into the TV series "The Operatives", which has now aired in around 90 countries. More recently Bethune's work has involved training government teams on coastal and offshore surveillance, fisheries enforcement, and maritime security.
On 22nd November 2017, Bethune was attacked by two men in the Brazilian city of Santander. Bethune at the time had been researching the illegal pet trade of Amazonian wildlife. He said a man with a knife initially lunged at him, and there ensued a scuffle, with Bethune struggling to hold onto the man's knife arm. A second man approached from the rear and put his arm around Bethune's neck, forcing him to fall to the ground. Bethune was stabbed in the chest. He continued to struggle, and the assailants eventually ran off. Bethune returned to New Zealand, and a few days later gave a TEDx talk where he recounted the horrifying ordeal.
In 2019 Bethune's non-profit Earthrace Conservation purchased the former US Navy and USCG ship "Modoc", which his team converted into a conservation support vessel. The vessel has a Zodiac Milpro FC470, a Willard 7.4m RIB, a 7m barge, and a Schiebel S100 Camcopter UAV. The ship was taken to Costa Rica in 2020 where she supports the Government Environmental Agency SINAC in various campaigns protecting Costa Rica's national parks.
In January 2021, while on patrol in Piedras Blancas National Park in Costa Rica, Bethune was bitten by a deadly Fer-de-lance snake. He was taken to Golfito Hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. He was released from hospital 2 weeks later, but with some ongoing health issues related to the snake bite and subsequent treatment.
In March 2022 while at anchor in the port town of Buenaventura in Colombia, his team was attacked by an estimated 15 pirates that attempted to board their ship. His team fired a series of warning shots into the water from an assault rifle, and the pirates abandoned their assault and left. 
Personal life and early career.
Bethune grew up in Hamilton West, New Zealand as one of five children. He completed a Master of Business Administration at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Bachelor of Science at the University of Waikato, and a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Auckland. He has two daughters with his wife, Sharyn, his high school sweetheart, who divorced him in 2009.
He began his career as an oil exploration engineer for Schlumberger Wireline Services and worked in the North Sea and Libya. In 1997, he co-founded CamSensor Technologies. The company manufactures automated camera systems for controlling robots used in complex tasks such as cutting up and grading meat carcasses. He later moved to Sydney to establish a subsidiary there.
His entry into conservation started when he wrote a 20,000-word paper titled "Alternative Fuels for Road Transport" while pursuing his Master of Business Administration degree from Macquarie University in 2004 He concluded that hydrogen as a fuel was a dead-end, but that biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol could become mainstream in use. He also predicted the battery electric vehicle could eventually replace the combustion engine in terms of road transport. For leisure, Bethune enjoys camping, scuba, freediving, kayaking, and CrossFit. He told a reporter for "The New Zealand Herald": "I've come from a very unusual background to be a conservationist."
Captain of Earthrace.
Based on his research at Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Bethune set out to prove that hydrocarbon fuels could be replaced by sustainable bio-fuels. He had "Earthrace" designed by LOMOcean Design and built in order to break the world record for a circumnavigation of the globe by a powerboat in hopes that it would call attention to the viability of biodiesel as an alternative fuel. He mortgaged his New Zealand home and financed the building in the hopes of recouping the expenses from sponsorship. He declined a $4 million sponsorship from a company that would have required them to use regular diesel.
His first attempt began in Barbados on 10 March 2007. He encountered significant delays due to issues with the propellers and other mechanical problems. On the night of 19 March, while around offshore from Guatemala, "Earthrace" collided with a local fishing boat. The crew was absolved of any responsibility after a 10-day investigation during which they were held in custody under armed guard in the military compound in Puerto Quetzal. The delays prevented them from completing the circumnavigation in record time using their original start location. "The" crew took "Earthrace" to San Diego where they made repairs. They then restarted their record attempt, leaving San Diego on 7 April 2007. Once they rounded Aceh in Indonesia and started crossing the Indian Ocean the vessel encountered significant bad weather in the first monsoon of the season. The monsoon remained with them all the way to Salalah in Oman. The vessel passed through the Suez Canal, then when getting close to Spain, crew discovered a structural failure around the depth transducer. Bethune said the "failure was a result of the constant pounding in crossing the Indian Ocean". The crew made temporary repairs and headed out to cross the Atlantic, however the repairs failed and Earthrace limped back to port in Málaga, Spain. Bethune decided to abandon the attempt.
Bethune returned to New Zealand to recover from what he said was "a brutal ordeal". After meeting with some of his original sponsors, he assembled a new team. The vessel was repaired and departed from Sagunto, Spain, in another record attempt on 1 March 2008. The second record attempt also suffered a large number of setbacks. The auto-pilot system failed in the Atlantic crossing. This was repaired in Puerto Rico. There was a general strike in Panama Canal causing 3 days in delays waiting to transit the canal.
In the leg between Hawaii and Marshall Islands, there was a problem with the common rail injection system, which was repaired in Majuro. The crew then had their biggest setback in Palau, when "Earthrace" hit a submerged log a few nautical miles offshore. The vessel limped back into Palau with extensive damage. A list of problems included a bent driveshaft, propeller damage, smashed P-Bracket, smashed engine mounts, broken gearbox, rudder damage, and a 5-metre gouge down the starboard side of the composite hull. Crew determined it would be almost impossible to repair the vessel quickly in Palau. They made temporary repairs and ran on one engine to Singapore. On arrival, the initial assessment was repairs would take at least 2 weeks, which would make the record almost impossible to get.
The marine salvage company Posh Semco offered to help with haul-out, and the vessel was pulled from the water. The crew worked around the clock for 3 days. "Earthrace" was put back into the water with what Bethune described as "the ugliest composite repair" he'd ever seen. The crew continued on their voyage towards their finish line in Spain. Bethune finished at the Spanish port of Sagunto on 27 June. The journey was completed in 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes, beating the former record by over two weeks. Bethune later confessed the reason they missed the record on the first attempt was his leadership was poor. He said the real difference in the second successful attempt was he did a better job in making decisions and running the team. He also claimed his team had been outstanding in Singapore. They had achieved a small miracle in getting "Earthrace" repaired so quickly, in very challenging circumstances.
Earthrace Promotional Tour.
When "Earthrace" was first launched in 2006, Bethune took her on a promotional tour around New Zealand. The vessel was given a Maori blessing in Raglan before she left to cross the Pacific. Over the next three years, the team took the boat to 186 cities around the world, opening the boat to school groups, public, media, and sponsors. Through this time, over 250,000 people walked aboard the vessel. Bethune used the tour to promote awareness of alternative fuels such as biodiesel.
As a publicity stunt, Bethune underwent liposuction surgery in order to convert body fat into fuel. A cosmetic surgeon removed around 50ml of fat from his back. The surgeon provided a further 10 litres of human fat from 2 other patients. Bethune converted this into 7 litres of biodiesel in his kitchen at home. Bethune ran the fuel in his vessel, claiming the 7 litres of fuel ran the boat for an estimated 8 nautical miles.
Captain of "Ady Gil".
After touring ports around the globe, the "Earthrace" was put on sale for $3 million and Bethune considered using it to interfere with Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean if a buyer could not be found. Hollywood production-house owner Ady Gil purchased the boat and "Earthrace" was renamed after him on 17 October 2009. Gil leased the ship to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for $1 / year to pursue Japanese whalers in Antarctica. Bethune was put in charge of the refit and was to captain the vessel in its anti-whaling activities. Bethune said before the operation: "I'm a conservationist. One of the things I've learned on "Earthrace" is stand up for stuff you believe in. Year after year the Japanese go down there and nothing seems to change ... If they want to go amping things up a bit, then bring it on." His wife later told the press that he first became alarmed by the state of the oceans when skippering the vessel during the record attempts.
On 6 January 2010 the "Ady Gil" was involved in a collision with the Japanese whaling vessel in the Southern Ocean when the "Shonan Maru No 2" hit it, and the "Ady Gil" was subsequently abandoned. An investigation into the collision by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) was inconclusive in assigning blame for the collision. AMSA was unable to verify claims made by Sea Shepherd, while the Japanese government declined to participate with the investigation saying any information it had might be needed for an inquiry by its own authorities. However, Maritime New Zealand investigators released a report that the "Ady Gil" was the stand on vessel and had right of way. The "Shonan Maru No 2" was the port side vessel, and the overtaking vessel, and under both circumstances, had an obligation to keep well clear of the Ady Gil. The report did conclude however that the captains of both the "Ady Gil" and the whaler, the "Shonan Maru No 2", "were partly responsible for either contributing to, or failing to respond to the 'close quarters' situation that led to the collision".
Arrest, trial, and conviction.
On 15 February 2010 in the middle of the night, Bethune attempted to board the "Shōnan Maru 2" from a jet ski. On his first attempt he fell into the water, and was recovered by his engineer, Larry Routledge a few minutes later. On his second attempt, Bethune managed to climb between the anti-boarding spikes and onto the side of the hull, where he then cut through the protective netting and clambered aboard. The purpose of the boarding was to conduct a citizen's arrest on her captain, Hiroyuki Komiya, alleging attempted murder, and to present a claim for $3 million for