# What was Paul Watson hit with? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031 "2008-12-20T04:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031/1 "2008-12-20T04:46:52Z")
On the latest episode of _Whale Wars_ captain Paul Watson claims to have been shot, and only saved by his bulletproof vest and fake police badge. The ship’s doctor dug out a lead-grey object, but it didn’t look like a bullet. It looked like it was cup-shaped. (Of course an actual bullet would have caused some sort of movement, instead of ‘Hey, what’s that?’) The Japanese whalers were throwing flash-bangs at the time. Is it possible that a component of one of the devices is a metal cup-shaped thing, and against incredible odds one hit Watson’s vest right over his heart and dented his Junior Enforcer badge? Or is it more likely it was a set-up by Watson? Judging by the shape, size, and appearance of the object I don’t think it was a bullet. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031/2 "2008-12-20T04:52:27Z")
I don’t really know anything about this, but isn’t it normal for bullets to deform on impact? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031/3 "2008-12-20T05:03:02Z")
Bullets tend to deform into lumps or mushroom shapes. This looked like a thimble. I’ve seen bullet jackets that were cup-shaped, but jackets are copper and not grey. ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031/4 "2008-12-24T16:40:22Z")
I haven’t seen the show, but I have read a few articles about the incident over the past couple of days that. The Institute of Cetacean Research, a group that apparently is connected with the Japanese whalers, released the following statement a day before the Animal Planet show first aired: [“ANIMAL PLANET DECEIVES ITS AUDIENCE WITH WHALE WARS”](http://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/081106Release.pdf) (\<— it’s a direct link to a .pdf) There’s a little more to it, but here are the main points from the .pdf: > [@](#): > > •It would be extraordinarily difficult for one party to shoot accurately at another from a range of approximately 150 yards when both are on moving platforms, there are difficult weather conditions (wind and sea spray) and the target is positioned on a crowded bridge. Watson pretends in the footage that a bullet not only hit his Kevlar vest, but that it him in the heart area. > > • If any shots really had been fired, the Sea Shepherd vessel would have quickly navigated away from the ship it was attacking to maintain a safe distance and evaluate any damage. It maintained its course as if nothing had happened. > > • No gunshot can be heard on the footage. > > • A photograph that Sea Shepherd claimed was the muzzle flash of a rifle was in fact the illuminated face of the ship’s clock. > > • A shooting in a crowded and confined area such as a ship’s bridge would create massive panic and confusion, with people screaming and diving for cover. The video shows a casual and unconcerned reaction to the supposed shooting. > > • Even with the protection of a Kevlar vest, a real shot will knock a victim backwards and cause bruising. Watson makes no involuntary movements and > claims he was scratched by a pin badge he was wearing under the Kevlar vest. As in western movies, the claim is that he was miraculously saved by a badge. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031/5 "2008-12-24T17:23:49Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Bullets tend to deform into lumps or mushroom shapes. This looked like a thimble. I’ve seen bullet jackets that were cup-shaped, but jackets are copper and not grey. Well barring a site, if it was a rifle round I would agree about the copper jacket. Hand guns don’t always use them however. I would never use a plain slug in my 9MM but in my .38 I have no problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031/6 "2008-12-24T18:06:56Z")
That’s true. But several months ago I wanted non-jacketed rounds for my vintage S&W M&P, and they were difficult to come by. IANA ballistic vest expert, but ISTM that rifle rounds tend to penetrate them. (Depends on the usual factors, of course.) As for the deformation, I looked at the YouTube link above. I suppose it could actually be a bullet, but I’ve never seen one deformed in quite that way. But then, I’ve never actually seen one that had been fired into a vest. If Watson actually did get hit with ‘something’, I’m thinking it might be a flash-bang component. But they were exploding about half-way between the vessels. My money is on Watson & Co. ‘pre-loading’ the vest by shooting it with a handgun sometime before they left port. (ISTR that their headquarters are not terribly far from me.) ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-paul-watson-hit-with/478031/7 "2008-12-29T21:59:23Z")
Personally, I didn’t buy it. The “oh… my… look at this hole in my vest, and look… a bullet which was stopped by my shield…” scene didn’t do it for me. No bruising, just a little jab from the pin of the badge? bah. If you’ve been shot, you’d know it, even with the best vest. One shot, which happens to hit his badge, fired from one moving ship to another moving ship, with no followup shots, or other hits anywhere on the ship? Fiction of the sort that you’d expect from radicals of any flavor. Personally, I think that the Japanese whaling ship should have had a “control error” and veered hard into their ship.