(CNN)A 110-day cat-and-mouse chase spanning from Antarctic waters to the coast of west Africa had an unlikely end when the crew of an alleged poaching vessel were rescued by conservationists pursuing them.
Environmentalist group Sea Shepherd had been tailing the Thunder -- subject of an Interpol "purple notice" for suspected fraud and fisheries-related crimes -- since its ship the Bob Barker encountered it in the Southern Ocean several months ago.
The pursuit ended early Monday in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of west Africa, when the Bob Barker received a distress call from the Thunder.
"We were literally a few hundred meters away; they said the ship was sinking and they were abandoning the Thunder," said Sea Shepherd spokesman Adam Burling.
"We invited the crew -- 40 of them -- on board, had a medical officer check them over, provided them with food and water.