The 86-year-old entertainer donated that amount to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which named its new 1,200-ton anti-whaling ship The Bob Barker.
The ship had its first confrontation with whalers on Tuesday when it joined two other Sea Shepherd vessels aiming to stop a Japanese whaling mission near Antarctica. The organization physically intervenes in whaling missions.
Captain Paul Watson says The Bob Barker is a high-speed former whaling ship that can cut through ice. Watson founded Sea Shepherd in 1978.
Watson says adding the Bob Barker to its fleet "makes it a lot easier for us to shut down these whaling operations."
