The ice was small, and easy to sail through. What you're thinking of is later on, but that was the weather's fault, as the Steve Irwin was only sheltering behind an iceberg from the wind when the next morning it was surrounded by ice.
The weathers fault? Don't blame the weather, blame the guy who put them in that situation.
The gyro compass controls the pitch and roll of the ship in heavy seas, when that went offline the whole ship went bonkers, but they didn't freak out at all like you just said they did. I thought the way they handled it was really well, the crew laughed at it, whilst the people on the bridge handled and fixed it in a very professional manner I thought. The fact he fixed something so delicate in so little time I find very professional.
The gyro compass doesn’t control the pitch and the rolling of the vessel. The gyro compass indicates the ‘gyro north’. Same way that the magnetic compass indicates the ‘magnetic north’. One of the benefits of a gyro compass, is that you can connect all kinds of things on it. E.g. a pilot or a radar.
The gyro compass went bananas, causing the pilot losing its input. That’s the way the ship made crazy course changes and starting rolling and pitching because the waves were coming in from abeam.
In this case the Officer of the Watch should have turn off the pilot and steer the ship manually or switch the pilot to magnetic compass (if the pilot has that function).
It's impossible to have a radio conversation whilst they are going at the speed they are, especially in heavy seas, if you want to stop a boat just to have a conversation whilst in pursuit of whalers then be my guest.
I followed a fast rescue training with a RIB. At the course they learn the crew of the RIB search paterns to search people who went over board. You also learn how to communicate between the ship and the RIB.
I think the way Paul Watson handled the ice field situation is self-explanatory, how can he make a fool of himself when his way of handling things is like a relief and a godsend. Peter Brown is an idiot, yes we all know that, and when Paul Watson took command everything became more calm and relaxing. But the rest of the crew isn't incompetent and unprofessional, they are geniuses hushed down by Peter Brown's stubbornness to change.
First ask the question about who putted them in that situation? In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
