Ship has sailed many missions

Press, 13 July 1985, Page 6

Ship has sailed many missions

PA Auckland The last voyage of the Greenpeace protest vessel Rainbow Warrior took her halfway round the world, through Pacific Ocean nuclear-testing grounds to the seabed at Auckland waterfront. Championing the cause of a nuclear-free Pacific, the 418-ton ship left Jacksonville, Florida, last March on a mission which was to end at the French nuclear-test-ing site at Mururoa Atoll in September. Halfway through her “Pacific Peace Voyage” the vessel shifted the entire population — 306 people — of Rongelap Islands, in the Marshalls group, whose tiny atoll home was dusted by fall-out from United States atomic tests in the 19505. The inhabitants, who thought fall-out from the massive “Bravo” blast was a snowfall, were relocated on nearby Mejato Atoll. Medical supplies valued at $12,000 were given to the nuclear migrants who sailed to their new home with belongings and livestock. The Rongelaps wanted to move because they claimed lingering radioactivity left their home unfit for habita-

tion and had caused an abnormal rate of thyroid disorders and cancers — a matter disputed by American officials. United States scientists, technical experts, and Government officials have described the move as unnecessary and inadvisable. They say radiation measurements of islanders were far below recommended maximum exposure limits and insist the island is safe for occupation. The clash of views was nothing new for the crew of the green-hulled ship, bought by Greenpeace in 1978 for $85,500 from the British Ministry of Agriculture. In her high-seas campaigns, the environmental flagship has taken her direct action campaign through Soviet and Icelandic whaling fleets, Canadian seal hunters, and nuclear waste dumpers off British coasts. In spite of the ship’s being impounded and her crew arrested in various protests, Greenpeace maintains that its strategy has always been consistent with its philosophy of non-violence. Rainbow Warrior first sailed foul of the law in 1979

when the Icelandic authorities seized the vessel and confiscated gear valued at $42,400. A year later, the ship was towed away from nuclear waste dumping grounds by French officials. Then it was Spain’s turn. Rainbow Warrior’s target was the Spanish whaling fleet Caught, she was held at the port of Ferrol pending payment of a $130,000 release fee. After five months her crew dashed to freedom — and ruined the career of the admiral responsible for her custody. For 12 months in 1982 the Rainbow Warrior crisscrossed the Atlantic disrupting the annual Nova Scotia seal cull in Canada before returning to British waters, in a bid to prevent nuclear waste dumping. On that occasion only a High Court injunction obtained by the Atomic Energy Commission kept her at bay. Court action repelled divers from the ship when they tried to block an outfall pipe from a British nuclear power plant, and in 1983 seven crew members were arrested for an illegal landing on Soviet territory in the icy Bering Sea after

an anti-whaling protest. Built in 1957, the ship — once named Sir William Hardy — underwent thousands of dollars worth of improvements after she joined the Greenpeace fleet. Fitted with a ketch sailing rig to cut fuel bills, the vessel also was equipped

with satellite navigation gear, radios, and a computer. Plans for Rainbow Warrior after the nowaborted Mururoa mission included promotion of Antarctica as a world park to preserve its animal and marine life.