Sealing activists bailed out with bag of toonies

Watson posted the bail at the Cape Breton courthouse Monday afternoon, freeing the chief officer and captain of the Farley Mowat, who are accused of steering the ship too close to the seal hunt.

They were arrested on Saturday in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after Mounties armed with submachine-guns stormed the vessel, which was also seized.

Watson says the Canadian government committed an act of piracy, saying Mounties boarded the Mowat in international waters.

He said he chose a bag of toonies for part of the payment because that is how pirates prefer to be paid, and said the bond money came from author Farley Mowat himself.

"We look at this as ransom and we're paying it in dubloons," he said.

Interviewed at his home in Port Hope, Ont., Mowat told The Canadian Press he was deeply honoured when the Society named its ship after him. He voiced his support for the crew and said he was ashamed of the Canadian officials' behaviour.