Rainbow Warrior (1955)

Side elevation of the Rainbow Warrior

  • Sir William Hardy (1955-1977)

The Rainbow Warrior ( unofficially Rainbow Warrior I called ) was a 1955 -built fisheries research vessel of the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF ) and was 1978-1985 bereedert of the environmental organization Greenpeace, who were also owners. The English name means rainbow warrior.

Acquisition and operations

The Rainbow Warrior, a 44 meter long ship of 418 tons, ran in 1955 as a fish steamer Sir William Hardy ( later Vega ) from the stack. Greenpeace bought the ship for £ 40,000, funded in large part by the Dutch section of the WWF, then it was renovated four months. On 29 April 1978, the ship Rainbow Warrior, as was the new flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, to protest against whaling worldwide, particularly in Iceland. The engines were renewed in 1981, in 1985 the ship was a " one and a half Master" - Ketch - rebuilt.

The ship was rammed in 1980 by a French naval ship, as the crew against the discharge of nuclear waste for reprocessing at La Hague protested.

1985 transported the Rainbow Warrior, the residents of the areas contaminated by U.S. nuclear tests Rongelap Island to Kwajalein, the U.S. government had refused their resettlement.

Sinking

1985 should the Rainbow Warrior drive to Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia to protest against the people there are French nuclear tests. As she lay at anchor in the port of Auckland, she was sunk on 10 July 1985 by agents of the French foreign intelligence service ( DGSE ). Here, the Dutch- Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira drowned Greenpeace.

Reception

Music

Musically, the Rainbow Warrior I was several times on the topic:

  • The German band Alphaville she mentioned in her song Fantastic Dream appeared on the 1986 album Afternoons in Utopia.
  • The Argentine metal band Rata Blanca dedicated to the ship in 1991, the song and the album Guerrero del Arco Iris.
  • The band Fiddler's Green sang in 1995, the fate of the Rainbow Warrior with a song of the same name.
  • The New Zealand singer-songwriter Anika Moa is in Germany mainly known by the title of Anchor Me on the eponymous Greenpeace Single, published on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the sinking.

Movies

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