The 8,000-tonne vessel Nisshin Maru, flagship of the Japanese whaling fleet, has been disabled since a fire last Thursday that killed a crewman, sparking concern oil or chemicals could spill into one of the world's last pristine seas.

The Japanese have rejected offers from environment watchdog Greenpeace to tow the stricken vessel to port in favor of attempting repairs, but activists monitoring fast-moving ice floes on behalf of the ship warned time is running out.

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"There is a big finger of ice to the east of us, which is moving up and across, and there is a concern that if the wind changes and pushes that towards us, then we'll all get pinned in along the continent," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Sarah Holden by satellite phone from the area.

Greenpeace has become a temporary ally of the Japanese amid concerns more than 1,000 tonnes of oil on board the ship could be blown by heavy Antarctic seas onto the world's largest Adelie penguin breeding ground, 177 kilometers away.

Scout helicopters from the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza said ice packs were closing in by five kilometers a day, while the Nisshin Maru drifted 48 km north overnight.

Crew on the Nisshin Maru had re- started one generator on the ship to restore power and heating, but the engines were still dead and the ship lay lashed between two other whaling vessels, Maritime New Zealand spokesman Steve Corbett said.

"Our concern and our wish is that they move north as quickly as possible," he said.

As the Japanese continued their efforts to move the ship, a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship involved in a collision with the whaling fleet was expected in Melbourne, where the anti- whaling crew face questions from Australian police. Sea Shepherd was asking the public to greet the "whale-saving crew" as the Robert Hunter docked.

It said the ship, along with the Farley Mowat, the group's other ship expected to dock in two days, had saved two pods of whales from a planned research cull of 954 by the Japanese.

Japan has denied news reports and accusations by New Zealand's government that there is a threat of pollution from the Nisshin Maru, calling them malevolent.

Japan says its annual whale hunts are for research and rejects accusations they are to outflank a 1986 ban on commercial whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission. REUTERS