The two protesters, who were detained on board of the Japanese whaler since Tuesday, were released on Thursday and the whaling fleet was preparing to stop the hunting in Antarctic. 

The Australian Ocean Viking ship was the one which took the two activists Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35, from the Japanese whaler, Yushin Maru 2 to Steve Irwin, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s vessel, the Press Association reports.

The two activists boarded the whaling vessel in an attempt to deliver a letter in which it was mentioned that the whalers are breaking the international and Australian law by hunting whales.

The stand off began when a video was released showing the two men tied on the board of the vessel.

Sea Shepherd accused the whalers of taking the pair hostage, while Japanese officials accused the activists of terrorism showing pictures with broken bottles with acid which they claim were thrown by the men.

Potts said that the whalers tried to throw him overboard just few minutes after they boarded the Yushin Maru.

He said: “Two guys picked me up by the shoulders, and the gunner, the guy that shoots the whales, picked my legs up and they attempted to tip me over.”

These claims brought by Potts were denied by the Institute of Cetacean Research.

A spokesman, Gabriel Gomez, for the Institute, which organizes Japan’s hunts, said it was “absolutely untrue that the Japanese crew assaulted the two, or tried to throw them overboard.”

He said that the two men were tied for a brief period due to the fact that the whalers didn’t know what they will do on board of the vessel.

According to him, the killing of the whales will end soon. He also said that one third of the mission was already accomplished by the fleet.

The transfer of the two worked so well because of the good diplomatic relations between Canberra and Tokyo.

He said: "If we didn't have such a strong relationship with Japan, then over the last couple of days we wouldn't have seen both the Australian government and the Japanese government at one wanting to secure and affect the safe and speedy transfer of Benjamin Potts and the U.K. national," USA Today informs.