A SHORT HISTORY OF THE RAINBOW WARRIOR

Greenpeace established its first European office in London in 1977.It was there, in a borrowed and leaking office in central London, that a plan was hatched to buy a boat with which to protect whales in the North Atlantic.

British fishing ports were scoured in search of a suitable vessel. Finally, an aged and rusting former North Sea trawler in Aberdeen seemed to meet the requirements. The 'Sir William Hardy' had been used as a fishery research trawler by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and though it needed a complete refit, the sleeping quarters and mess had already been altered. The 'Sir William Hardy', built in 1955, was the first diesel electric ship built in the United Kingdom.

Within 8 months, enough money had been raised for a 10 percent down-payment. The balance was due within 60 days. As time ran out, hopes of purchasing the ship waned. But then the Netherlands branch of the World Wildlife Fund agreed to help finance the campaign to save the whales. Negotiations quickly took place to complete the purchase and to bring the ship down to London's docks for an overhaul. Several skilled volunteers offered to help and in the final stages of purchase the first campaign team began to form.

With the help of a growing band of supporters and the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace had acquired its first vessel in Europe. Some months later, it was renamed 'Rainbow Warrior' after the Warriors in a North American Cree Indian prophecy: 'When the world is sick and dying, the people will rise up like Warriors of the Rainbow....' Fresh paint, in striking rainbow patterns, was applied to the super-structure and on the bow a dove of peace carrying an olive branch symbolised the vessel's mission.

On 29 April 1978, as the Rainbow Warrior steamed proudly from the London docks, the Greenpeace and United Nations flags flew together to reflect not only the international composition of the 24-member crew from 10 countries, but global concern for the plight of the whales.

The entire operation was beset by almost insurmountable problems again and again: lack of money to buy fuel, legal wrangles, shortage of equipment and sheer exhaustion. But despite the odds, the Rainbow Warrior proved to be a truly seaworthy ship.

In the autumn of 1981, the diesel electric propulsion engine system that had lovingly been rebuilt on many occasions had to be replaced. Greenpeace volunteers took out 45 tons of equipment from the engine room and installed the new Detroit engines. In 1985, before leaving the USA on the start of the Pacific campaign, the Rainbow Warrior again underwent major conversion, to a sail-assist system. The Marconi ketch rig made the Rainbow Warrior the largest yacht fitted with this type of sail rig.

CAMPAIGN HISTORY OF THE RAINBOW WARRIOR

1978 - Whale Campaign Rainbow Warrior launches whaling campaign against Icelandic whalers and sails to Spain to confront Spanish whalers.

Nuclear Campaign The Rainbow Warrior intercepts the British nuclear waste ship GEM trying to dump 5000 barrels of radioactive waste. One of the 600 lb steel barrels, crashes onto a Greenpeace inflatable, narrowly missing its crew. Protests against a shipment of Japanese spent fuel carried by the Pacific Fisher to Barrow in Cumbria.

Seal Campaign Prevents the massacre of 6000 grey seals by Norwegian hunters in Scotland's Orkney Islands.

1979 - Whale Campaign Enters Icelandic waters; five harpoons are fired at close range over the heads of crew members. The Rainbow Warrior and BBC-TV crew are intercepted and detained by gun boats. Returns to Iceland later in the year and, again using inflatable boats, defeats whaling attempts. The ship and crew are illegally arrested; the Captain and UK directors are issued with an injunction and the Rainbow Warrior equipment is confiscated.

1980 - Nuclear Campaign Sails into the French port of Cherbourg to oppose ships delivering nuclear waste from Japan for reprocessing. Rammed by a French naval ship.

Toxic Campaign Blockades a Bayer ship in the Netherlands disposing of tons of chemical waste in the North Sea.

Whale Campaign in Spain Makes a second voyage to Spain to protest against whaling operations. After successful confrontation in June, the ship is seized and held in the military harbour of El Ferrol by Spanish authorities who remove portions of the propulsion system to prevent escape. In November, after being impounded for five months, replacement parts are smuggled aboard and the ship escapes by night, happily arriving in Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

1981 - Seal Campaign Crosses the North Atlantic in February after having ice- strengthening added to the bow to campaign against the slaughter of harp seal pups on the ice packs off the east coast of Canada. Members of the crew are arrested for dyeing the pups' coats green to make them commercially worthless.

1982 - Seal Campaign Return to Canadian seal hunt, this time in the Gulf of St Lawrence. Spends more than two weeks battling pack ice to reach the hunt. Once again, several crew members are arrested for saving the lives of several hundred seal pups. At the height of the campaign the EEC announces a ban on the importation of seal pup skins, which is the death knell of the commercial sealing industry.

Whale Campaign Transits the Panama Canal to launch a campaign against dolphin killing by deep sea tuna fishermen. Then goes on to Peru to campaign against Peruvian whaling operations. Six months later, Peru agrees to stop whaling.

1983 - Nuclear Campaign Campaigns against off-shore oil and gas development off the California coast, and against the US Navy's plan to dispose of ageing nuclear submarines by dumping them at sea.

Driftnet Campaign Voyages to the Bering Sea to confront deep sea salmon driftnet operations, which kill thousands of sea birds and marine mammals annually as by-catch.

Whale Campaign Voyages to Siberia to document illegal Russian whaling operation at Lorino, where several hundred California grey whales are killed each year. Seven crew members are arrested by the Soviets, but the Rainbow Warrior outmanoeuvres a Russian warship and other pursuit vessels and arrives safely back in Alaska. The crew members are held for five days, but are finally released after international outcry against whaling and in support of Greenpeace efforts.

1984 - Toxic Campaign Sails through the Panama Canal to the Gulf of Mexico to protest against ocean incineration of toxic chemicals; several days after the ship leaves San Francisco, the US Environmental Protection Agency revokes the permit to burn in the Gulf.

1985 - Nuclear Pacific Peace Voyage Sets sail to the Pacific after conversion to a sail-assist rig and a complete refit in Florida. Transits the Panama Canal and heads for Hawaii, the first stop in the Pacific.

Sails to the Marshall Islands from Hawaii with tools, books and medical supplies. The Marshallese are suffering from the effects of US nuclear tests carried out in the 1950s. The 320 residents of the contaminated Rongelap Atoll, plagued with cancer, leukaemia, birth defects and miscarriages, ask Greenpeace to help relocate them with the Rainbow Warrior to begin a new life on uncontaminated soil on Mejato Island.

Kiribati and Vanautu welcome the Rainbow Warrior and Greenpeace renews its links with islanders visited by the Greenpeace yacht Vega during previous anti-nuclear campaigns. Greenpeace and the islanders are united in their efforts to prevent the London Dumping Convention from lifting its two-year moratorium on radioactive waste dumping at sea. Arrives in Auckland, New Zealand, to support that nation's nuclear free policies and is warmly welcomed by the public.

July 10th - The Rainbow Warrior prepares to lead a peace flotilla of ships from New Zealand to Moruroa to peacefully protest against French nuclear testing. Three days after arrival in Auckland, French agents bomb and sink the Rainbow Warrior in the harbour, killing Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira.

1987 - After 2 years of international arbitration, a panel of 3 arbitrators award a damage claim settlement in favour of Greenpeace. The French Government is ordered to pay Greenpeace US $8.159 million. Greenpeace pledges to use part of the award to support the world-wide fleet of ships and its campaigns for a nuclear and pollution free Pacific.

Greenpeace reaffirms its decision for a burial at sea as an honourable end for the ship. On December 12, the Rainbow Warrior is sunk in the clear deep waters of the Pacific at Matauri Bay in New Zealand, with full Maori ceremony.

1989 - The new Rainbow Warrior is launched in Hamburg on July 10th and immediately starts a European tour.