The
Rainbow Warrior (sometimes unofficially
Rainbow Warrior I) was a former UK
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and FoodThe Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture....
(MAFF) trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation
GreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental organization for the protection and conservation of the environment. Greenpeace uses direct action, lobbying and research to achieve its goals. Greenpeace has a worldwide presence with national and regional offices in 46 countries, which are affiliated to the...
. She was active in supporting a number of Greenpeace protest activities against
seal huntingSeal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, as well as Namibia, Greenland, Norway, and Russia...
,
whalingWhaling is the hunting of whales which dates back to at least 3,000 BC. The evolution of traditional Arctic whaling developed with increasing rapidity by early organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of...
and nuclear weapons testing during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was sunk whilst in harbour in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
by operatives of the French intelligence service (
DGSEThe Directorate-General for External Security is France's external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defense, the agency works alongside the DCRI in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence...
) on 10 July 1985, killing one of the activists.
The
Rainbow Warrior was built in 1955, in
AberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city and one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It has an official population estimate of .Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
as a trawler named
Sir William Hardy, and entered service with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
The
Rainbow Warrior (sometimes unofficially
Rainbow Warrior I) was a former UK
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and FoodThe Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture....
(MAFF) trawler later purchased by the environmental organisation
GreenpeaceGreenpeace is a non-governmental organization for the protection and conservation of the environment. Greenpeace uses direct action, lobbying and research to achieve its goals. Greenpeace has a worldwide presence with national and regional offices in 46 countries, which are affiliated to the...
. She was active in supporting a number of Greenpeace protest activities against
seal huntingSeal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, as well as Namibia, Greenland, Norway, and Russia...
,
whalingWhaling is the hunting of whales which dates back to at least 3,000 BC. The evolution of traditional Arctic whaling developed with increasing rapidity by early organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of...
and nuclear weapons testing during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was sunk whilst in harbour in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
by operatives of the French intelligence service (
DGSEThe Directorate-General for External Security is France's external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defense, the agency works alongside the DCRI in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence...
) on 10 July 1985, killing one of the activists.
Early career
The
Rainbow Warrior was built in 1955, in
AberdeenAberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city and one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It has an official population estimate of .Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands...
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
as a trawler named
Sir William Hardy, and entered service with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. She served until 1977 when she was put up for sale by the Ministry. She was acquired by Greenpeace at a cost of £40,000 and underwent a four month refit. She was re-launched on April 29 1978 as
Rainbow Warrior, the first ship to serve with Greenpeace. Further modifications followed, with the replacement of the engines in 1981 and the fitting of sails in a ketch rig in 1985.
With Greenpeace
In early 1985
Rainbow Warrior was in the
PacificThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
campaigning against nuclear testing. At the beginning of the year she evacuated some
Marshall IslandersThe Marshall Islands , officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. This nation of roughly 62,000 people is located north of Nauru and...
who were living on an
atollAn atoll is an island of coral that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu
OED. Its first recorded use in English was in 1625 as atollon...
polluted by radioactivity from past American nuclear tests at the
Pacific Proving GroundsThe Pacific Proving Grounds was the name used to describe a number of sites in the Marshall Islands and a few other sites in the Pacific Ocean, used by the United States to conduct nuclear testing at various times between 1946 and 1962...
.
She travelled to
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
to lead a flotilla of
yachtA yacht is a high end recreational boat. It designates two rather different classes of watercraft, sailing and power boats. Yachts are different from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. It was not until the rise of the steamboat and other types of powerboat that sailing vessels in...
s protesting against French
nuclear testingNuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
at the Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago of
French PolynesiaFrench Polynesia is a French overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
. During previous nuclear tests at Mururoa, protest ships had been boarded by French
commandoThe term commando, in English, means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means élite light infantry and/or special forces units, specialised in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and effect...
s after sailing into the shipping exclusion zone around the atoll. For the 1985 tests Greenpeace intended to monitor the impact of nuclear tests and place protesters on the island to illegally monitor the blasts. The French Government infiltrated the
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
-based organisation and discovered these plans.
The Bombing
The
Rainbow Warrior, then captained by
Peter WillcoxPeter Willcox is a Greenpeace activist best known for being captain of the ship the Rainbow Warrior when it was bombed by French agents.-Early years:...
, was sabotaged and sunk just before midnight NZST (1pm BST, 8am EDT) on July 10 1985 by two explosive devices attached to the hull by operatives of the French intelligence service (
DGSEThe Directorate-General for External Security is France's external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defense, the agency works alongside the DCRI in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence...
). One of the twelve people on board, photographer
Fernando PereiraFernando Pereira was a freelance Dutch photographer, of Portuguese origin, who drowned when French intelligence used two underwater mines to sink the ship Rainbow Warrior, owned by the environmental organisation Greenpeace on July 10, 1985 .The bombing of the boat had been designed to make the ship...
, returned to the ship after the first explosion to attempt to retrieve his equipment, and was killed when the ship was sunk by the second larger explosion.
A murder enquiry began and a number of the French agents were tracked and arrested. The revelations of French involvement caused a political scandal and the French minister of defence
Charles HernuCharles Hernu was a French politician, most notably serving as Minister of Defense from 1981 to 1985, until forced to resign over the bombing of a Greenpeace ship in New Zealand.-Biography:...
resigned. The captured French agents were imprisoned, but later transferred to French custody. They were confined to the French military base on the
Island of HaoHao, or Haorangi, is a large coral atoll in the central part of the Tuamotu Archipelago. Because of its shape, French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville named it Harp Island....
for a brief period before being released. After facing international pressure France agreed to pay compensation to Greenpeace, and later admissions from the former head of the DGSE revealed that three teams had carried out the bombings. In addition to those successfully prosecuted, a two-man team had carried out the actual bombing but their identities have never been officially confirmed. 22 September 1985, the France Prime Minister
Laurent FabiusLaurent Fabius is a French Socialist politician. He served as Prime Minister from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. He was 37 years old when he was appointed and is, so far, the youngest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic.-Early Life:...
summoned journalists to his office to read a 200 word statement in which he said: "The truth is cruel," and acknowledged there had been a cover-up, he went on to say that "Agents of the French secret service sank this boat. They were acting on orders."
The wreck of the
Rainbow Warrior was refloated on 21 August 1985 and moved to a naval harbour for
forensicForensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to a legal system. This may be in relation to a crime or a civil action...
examination. Although the hull had been recovered the damage was too extensive for economic repair and the vessel was scuttled in
Matauri BayMatauri Bay is a bay in New Zealand, situated 30 km north of Kerikeri, in Whangaroa county, just north of the Bay of Islands. It has over a kilometre of beautiful white sand and crystal clear water...
in the
Cavalli IslandsThe Cavalli Islands are a small group of islands in on Northland's East Coast in northern New Zealand. They lie five kilometres to the east of Matauri Bay on the mainland....
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
on 2 December 1987, to serve as a
dive wreckWreck diving is a type of recreational diving where shipwrecks are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificial reef sites.- Reasons for diving wrecks :...
and
artificial reefAn artificial reef is a man-made, underwater structure, typically built for the purpose of promoting marine life in areas of generally featureless bottom.Artificial reefs may also serve to improve hydrodynamics for surfing or to control beach erosion....
to promote marine life. The move was seen as a fitting end for the vessel. Indeed, the hull is now covered with a large colony of vari-coloured sea anemones. The masts were salvaged and now stand outside the
DargavilleDargaville is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the bank of the Northern Wairoa River in the Northland region. The town is located 55 kilometres southwest of Whangarei....
Museum. A second ship, named
Rainbow WarriorThe Rainbow Warrior is a three-masted schooner in service with the environmental protection organization Greenpeace. She was built from the hull of the deep sea fishing ship Grampian Fame, which had been built in Selby, North Yorkshire and launched in 1957...
after the first vessel, was acquired in 1989.
Rainbow Warrior in the arts
Several fictionalised films have been made about the ship including
The Rainbow Warrior Conspiracy (1989),
The Rainbow WarriorThe Rainbow Warrior, sometimes called The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, is a 1992 film starring Sam Neill and Jon Voight.Directed by Michael Tuchner.Written by Martin Copeland, Scott Busby....
(1992), and two French films
Operation Rainbow Warrior and
Le Rainbow Warrior (both 2006). In addition, a number of musicians and bands have referenced the original
Rainbow Warrior and the sinking, including the
BelgianThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
band
Cobalt 60Cobalt 60 is a Front 242 side project featuring Front 242's Jean-Luc de Meyer and Dominique Lallement. They are an electro-industrial/EBM group, though they frequently use guitars, an uncommon feature among artists of the genre...
, the
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
band
The BatsThe Bats are an influential New Zealand rock band formed in 1982 in Christchurch by Paul Kean , Malcolm Grant , Robert Scott and Kaye Woodward...
and the
ArgentinianArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
metal band
Rata Blanca
Rata Blanca is a classic heavy metal band from Argentina that formed in the 1980s.-Biography:The band was founded by Walter Giardino after he left V8. Rata Blanca played together for about two years before their debut on August 15 1987 in the theater "Luz y Fuerza" in Buenos Aires...
.
Geffen RecordsGeffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
released a double album,
Greenpeace Rainbow Warriors, in 1989 and included songs from artists such as
U2U2 are a rock band that formed in Dublin, Ireland. The band consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr...
,
INXS----INXS achieved international success with a series of hit recordings through the 1980s and 1990s, including the albums Listen Like Thieves, Kick, X and Welcome to Wherever You Are and the singles "Original Sin", "Need You Tonight", "Devil Inside" and "New Sensation".Hutchence died in 1997 and...
,
The PretendersThe Pretenders are a British rock band. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde , James Honeyman-Scott , Pete Farndon , and Martin Chambers...
,
Talking HeadsTalking Heads was an American rock band formed in 1974 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
,
Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English musician and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering...
, and
White LionWhite Lion is an American/Danish glam metal band that was formed in New York City in 1983 by Danish vocalist Mike Tramp and American guitarist Vito Bratta. Mainly active in the 1980s and early 1990s, the band achieved double platinum status with their #8 hit "Wait" and #3 hit "When the Children Cry"...
.
Swedish band
EuropeEurope is a Swedish hard rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979 under the name Force by vocalist Joey Tempest and guitarist John Norum. Although widely associated with glam metal, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal and hard rock elements...
also had made a demo called 'Rainbow Warrior' on their 'Le Baron Boys' release, though whether it refers to the ship or not is unknown. A number of books have also been written, including
Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior, produced the year after the sinking and written by shipboard author
David RobieDavid Robie is a New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region for international media for more than two decades. He became an associate professor in Auckland University of Technology School of Communication Studies in 2005...
.
External links
- Official Greenpeace page on the Rainbow Warrior
- New Zealand website on the Rainbow Warrior
- Australian Greenpeace website on the Rainbow Warrior
- 20th anniversary of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior (on Greenpeace site)
- Specifications of the Rainbow Warrior (on Greenpeace site)
- "The Rainbow Warrior Affair"
- New Zealand police report on Operation Wharf, the Rainbow Warrior homicide inquiry
- "Felling of a Warrior", 15 July 2005, The Guardian
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
- article on 20th anniversary of Rainbow Warrior bombing including updates on further developments in the case.
- "How Rainbow Warrior was played down", 23 August 2005, The Guardian.
- "A photographer's date with a nuclear death", Pacific Journalism Review
Pacific Journalism Review, founded at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994, is a peer-reviewed journal covering media issues and communication in the South Pacific, Asia-Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. Since 2002, it has been published by Auckland University of Technology's School of...
, 2(1), November, 1995 - A reflective article 10 years after the bombing. Archives sur le Centre d'Expérimentations Nucléaires du Pacifique (C.E.P.) à Mururoa, Hao et Fangataufa