Amy, You are correct with your interpretation of the rules regarding right of way. You amy have over simplified though when considering a ships abiltiy to manouvere. My guess is that the Ady Gil put itself truely in harms way.
Why dont we give all the beached whales around the world to the japanese if they stop all killing of the live ones!
I think it's indefensible for anyone in this country to be defending the Japanese whalers in this case. A lot of the comments posted here stem from ignorance of the international maritime law as will be applied to this incident.