Second, it has tried to prevent the harpoon ships from connecting with the factory ship, the Nisshin Maru.

BBC: Politics at play in Sea Shepherd-Japan whaling wars

The ship was the Nisshin Maru.

NEWYORKER: Neptune��s Navy

The sinking of the Ryou-Un Maru brought about the end of a journey for the rust-stained ship that drifted across the Pacific Ocean as part of a giant debris field generated by a tsunami that struck Japan following a 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011.

CNN: U.S Coast Guard sinks Japanese fishing trawler near Alaska