There is a new vessel on our oceans, with a singular goal. Its namesake decades ago may have been labeled as the boat whose goal was to "Save the Whales". But this new ship was designed with much grander interests: Save the Planet.
A photo-enhanced tour of the newest ship in the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior III (henceforth truncated RWIII), below the divider doodle.
First, a bit of background on the ship & its namesakes. The 1st Rainbow Warrior was purchased in 1978 and named for a Cree prophecy about a time when people will come together to save the planet.
There will come a time when the Earth grows sick and when it does a tribe will gather from all the cultures of the World who believe in deeds and not words. They will work to heal it...they will be known as the "Warriors of the Rainbow."
That ship was ultimately blown up by the French Secret Service, killing one Greenpeace activist, Fernando Pereira.
Greenpeace purchased another vessel to replace the one destroyed by state-sponsored terrorism, and named it Rainbow Warrior II. That ship was re-purposed by Greenpeace and is now being used as a floating hospital in the poor, climate change-ravaged nation of Bangladesh.
The new vessel retains the mantle of flagship of Greenpeace's fleet. This 3-minute video will explain more about the ship itself than an hour of my typing ever could.
All photos by diarist {except 1 watermarked below courtesy GPNZ}
Although whales are still deserving and in need of saving, this biosphere and its inhabitants at large are all in need of protection from the ravages of global climate change. On of the first actions the new ship complemented was an occupation of a coal-fired power plant in the Carolinas. This banner between the masts is a relic from that action.
I tried counting the number of boats on the deck of the RWIII, but lost count somewhere around 5. I didn't uncover tarps to see how many inflatable zodiacs and the like may be stashed in various crannies of the ship.
The sticker wall is one feature I was not expecting to find. In just 6 months afloat, this area has been layered with dozens of Greenpeace stickers from around the world.
I am remiss at having forgotten to add a few of my own that were missing to the collection. Oh well; next time.
Other amusing stickers adorn various nooks of the ship, like these in the galley.
BTW, I am glad I didn't need to help use the oven; for the life of me I have no idea what these symbols mean.
Having worked for the organization for over a year, it is nice to get more than just a boost of "psychic income" now and again. In the time I have been fundraising, the numbers suggest I have raised upwards of 1% of the cost of the vessel. Although that may not seem on its face like a lot of money at first, the RWIII likely cost roughly $25 million to complete.
The bridge/wheelhouse is right out of Star Trek. Not the old one either. One of those new-fangled ones. I figure at least a few of those knobs are there just to look cool, or to tune into local classic rock radio stations when the ship is docked.
The orange jumpsuits make us look more like astronauts than activists.
For ship-o-philes, here is a detailed rendering of this ship for you to peruse.
Fun facts:
The ship is roughly the length of 2 blue whales and the height of Godzilla (!?!).
Its A-frame masts are unique-
Its 55m-high A-Frame mast system can carry far more sail than a conventional mast of the same size. This is the first time this design has been installed on a vessel of the Rainbow Warrior’s size.
Masts by day/nite.
http://www.greenpeace.org/...
We wanted the third Rainbow Warrior to be as environmentally-friendly as possible for a ship of its type and Greenpeace has worked with some excellent engineers to make it happen.
Sadly, this ship has more recycling options than most of the state of Florida, from what I gleaned in my weekend visit there.
I was amused and pleased to see that at least a couple heads had the old-school style toilets installed. I have always preferred them ever since my days in Asia. You get used to them, and they are more natural for evacuation.
Bonus: You never have to worry about the seat being clean/wet.
The library can help the crew pass those long weeks at sea. The ship is currently en route to the Amazon.
I hope you enjoyed the look behind the curtain of the world's only purpose built eco ship. It was an all too brief visit for me, but a nice working vacation during which I helped over 1400 people in the Tampa/St. Pete region visit the boat. Three of those people were my immediate family who live in the area, so that was cool.
I hope the legacy of this boat lives up to its namesakes. If all goes well, it will still be sailing the world 50 years from now.
We can only hope the future turns out to be much less bleak than it looks right now.