''Rainbow Warrior'' (sometimes informally called ''Rainbow Warrior II'') was a three-masted

schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...

most notable for service with the environmental protection organization

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

. She was built to replace the original ''Rainbow Warrior'' that the

French intelligence service This is a list of current and former French intelligence agencies. Currently active *DGSE: Directorate-General for External Security – '' Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure''. It is the military foreign intelligence agency, whi ...

(DGSE) bombed in 1985 in the

Port of Auckland Port of Auckland Limited (POAL), the successor to the Auckland Harbour Board, is the Auckland Council-owned company administering Auckland's commercial freight and cruise ship harbour facilities. As the company operates all of the associated fac ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, which sank the ship and killed photographer

Fernando Pereira Fernando Pereira (10 May 1950 – 10 July 1985) was a Portuguese-Dutch freelance photographer, who drowned when French intelligence ( DGSE) detonated a bomb and sank the ''Rainbow Warrior'', owned by the environmental organisation Greenpeace o ...

. The ''Rainbow Warrior II'' was built from the

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

of the

deep sea fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

ship ''Ross Kashmir'' (later ''Grampian Fame''), which had been built by Cochrane & Sons of

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 17,193. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire; from 1974 until 2023, ...

, North Yorkshire and launched in 1957. The ship was originally long and powered by steam, but was extended to in 1966. Greenpeace gave the vessel new masts, a

gaff rig Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and sh ...

, a new engine and a number of environmentally low-impact systems to handle waste, heating and hot water. She was officially re-launched in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

on 10 July 1989, the fourth anniversary of the bombing of her predecessor, the original ''Rainbow Warrior''.

History

Over the course of her career, ''Rainbow Warrior'' was used in activist campaigns such as blockading the Russian whaling fleet, protesting French nuclear weapons testing, and stopping ships with cargos of coal and palm oils, as well as humanitarian activities such as evacuating the inhabitants of

Rongelap Rongelap Atoll ( ; , ) is an uninhabited coral atoll of 61 islands (or motu (geography), motus) in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is . It encloses a lagoon with ...

after the island was contaminated by nuclear testing, and providing aid after the

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

. ''Rainbow Warrior'', piloted by skipper Mike Fincken, was docked at the

Legazpi City Legazpi (, American Spanish: , European Spanish: ), officially the City of Legazpi (; ), is a Component City, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a ...

port in

Albay Albay (IPA: ), officially the Province of Albay (; ; Baybayin, ᜎᜎᜏᜒᜄᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜀᜎ᜔ᜊᜌ᜔), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Bicol Region of the Philippines, mostly on the southeastern part of the isla ...

on 22 May 2008 for a one-month-long "Quit Coal, Save the Climate"

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

tour and campaign aimed to educate people on the effects of the use of coal on the environment, specifically on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. The tour proposed

alternative energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

sources such as

geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to: * Geothermal energy, useful energy generated and stored in the Earth * Geothermal activity, the range of natural phenomena at or near the surface, associated with release of the Earth's internal he ...

and

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

. Greenpeace damaged the

Tubbataha Reef The Tubbataha Natural Park, also known as the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (), is a protected area of the Philippines located in the middle of the Sulu Sea. The marine and bird sanctuary consists of two huge atolls (named the North Atoll and Sou ...

, a world heritage site in the

, with ''Rainbow Warrior'' in 2005. Greenpeace was fined $7,000 for damaging almost of the coral reef. Greenpeace blamed faulty maps provided by the Philippine government for the accident. The BBC quoted Greenpeace official Red Constantino as saying "The chart indicated we were a mile and a half" from the coral reef when the ship ran aground. Greenpeace paid the fine.BBC News Greenpeace fined for reef damage
/ref>

Legacy

''Rainbow Warrior'' was retired in August 2011 and sold to

Friendship Friendship is a Interpersonal relationship, relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. Althoug ...

, a

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

-based NGO, to serve as a hospital ship, renamed ''Rongdhonu'', Bengali for rainbow. She docked in the port of

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

on 29 August to undergo a refitting for that purpose. '' Rainbow Warrior III'' was launched in October 2011. The NGO Friendship sold the ship for scrapping in a Bangladesh

scrap yard Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

in 2018.

Image gallery

File:Rainbow-Warrior-Genova-2006.jpg, ''Rainbow Warrior'' in port at

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in 2007 File:Rainbow Warrior II.jpg, ''Rainbow Warrior'' in port at

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

in 2008 File:Greenpeace Rainbow warrior 2.jpg, ''Rainbow Warrior'' in port at

West India Docks The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides, and warehouses built to import goods from, and export goods and occasionally passengers to, the British West Indies. Located on the Isle of Dogs in London, the first dock opened in 18 ...

, London in 2009 File:Rainbow Warrior shipped in Keelung 20110108a.jpg, ''Rainbow Warrior'' in at

Keelung Keelung ( ; zh, p=Jīlóng, c=基隆, poj=Ke-lâng), Chilung or Jilong ( ; ), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port city in northeastern Taiwan. The city is part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area with neighboring New Ta ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

in 2011 File:Rainbow Warrior II spec.jpg, The specification. File:Greenpeace Rainbow warrior in Haifa.jpg, ''Rainbow warrior'' in

Port of Haifa The Port of Haifa ('';'' ) is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, the others being the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. Its natural deep-water harbor operates all year long and serves both passenger and merchant shi ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, 2008.

References

External links

Official Greenpeace page on the ''Rainbow Warrior''

New Zealand website on the ''Rainbow Warrior''

Australian Greenpeace website on the ''Rainbow Warrior''

Specifications of the ''Rainbow Warrior'' (on Greenpeace site)
{{Greenpeace Ships built in Selby Schooners Anti–nuclear weapons movement Three-masted ships 1957 ships Ships of Greenpeace

History

Legacy

Image gallery

See also

References

External links