Battered fleet sails into Melbourne It will take more than MacGyver's duct tape and Swiss army knife to repair the battered Sea Shepherd ships that limped into Melbourne to dock on Wednesday morning, ending their anti-whaling mission. Sea Shepherd's advisory board member, actor Richard Dean Anderson - who played the secret agent known for using mundane items to make repairs - was at Seaworks Pier with about 100 others to inspect damage to the three ships. "I think [MacGyver] would call in a ship builder," Anderson said. Captain Peter Hammarstedt and his damaged Sea Shepherd ship the Bob Barker dock in Melbourne. The ships will stay in port in Williamstown while their hulls, masts, galleys and satellite navigation systems are repaired after the vessels collided with Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean. Sea Shepherd Australia director Jeff Hansen estimated the damage at close to $1 million. He said the campaign to stop whaling in the Antarctic seas had cost $3 million, but reduced the Japanese whaling season and their take. The Bob Barker was the most extensively damaged after it came between a refuelling ship and a whaling vessel several times. Captain Peter Hammarstedt said he knew his task was enormous when he saw the five-storey-high Nisshin Maru's anchor was level with the Bob Barker's bridge. He feared for the crew and mission when the ship's engine room took in water. "I released a mayday and told them that if they kept going any further they would sink us, after the distress call they backed away, but I was maintaining my position," he said. Sea Shepherd videographer Sam Sielen watched a communications mast snap in two. "I thought they were going to kill us," Mr Sielen said. "The mast fell in slow motion, so I had time to get out of the way," he said. Australian Maritime Safety Authority surveyors will inspect the Sam Simon, the only Australian-flagged ship, on Friday for any evidence of a breach of International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea. Interpol has Sea Shepherd founder Captain Watson on a "red" list alert for his arrest at the instigation of Japan. Former senator and Sea Shepherd Australia chairman Bob Brown called for the government to guarantee it would not arrest Captain Watson if he came to Australia. The problem is that Captain Paul Watson isn't here. We need to know that he won't be arrested and sent to Tokyo for upholding Australian law in protecting whales," Dr Brown said. Sydney designer John Shipton said his son, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and Captain Watson were both persecuted for taking on vested and government interests. An earlier version of this story said Australian Federal Police boarded all three ships, including the Steve Irwin. This is in correct. The AFP was not involved. The story has been corrected.