O
ur story about Shells
Restaurant’s ‘shell collection’
led us to another big story. Two
of the portholes from Roger Turner’s
collection weren’t just from any old
wreck, they were from Greenpeace’s
Rainbow Warrior
. And it did not ‘just
sink’ – it was bombed. In Auckland’s
harbour. By French spies.
The world has not seen an open air
test of a nuclear weapon, fusion and
the much more powerful fission bomb,
in almost three decades. The USA,
Great Britain and Russia had all agreed
to stop atmospheric testing in 1963,
but China and France continued air tests.
And Kiwis were greatly concerned as the tests were conducted on
Mururoa, a French-controlled atoll in the South Pacific, and because of
all the fallout in the air, land and water. In 1974, the French conducted
tests underground, in shafts drilled deep into the volcanic rocks.
There was a push for the entire South Pacific to be nuclear free, with
environmental protestors and government pressure. New Zealand
helped lead the way, and even sent two protest ships to the atoll.
It was one such protest in July of 1985 that brought the Greenpeace’s
Rainbow Warrior
to New Zealand. The activists had just helped move a
small island population whose health was devasted by nuclear radiation
from bomb tests conducted by the United States. The crew’s next
assignment was to be part of a flotilla condemning French nuclear tests.
The flagship was docked in Auckland’s harbour stocking up on supplies,
and other ships and activists were also assembling for the protest flotilla.
One sailboat arriving, however, held members of the French foreign
intelligence service on a mission, code-named
Opération Satanique.
On July 10, the team donned scuba gear and attached two limpet bombs
under the hull of the Greenpeace ship. As most crew members were
ashore for a birthday celebration, the agents detonated one bomb. The
remaining crew rushed to leave the ship, but the team’s photographer
returned to get his camera gear and was killed by the second blast.
France intially denied involvement, but New Zealand law enforcement
tracked down two of the perpetrators posing as Swiss newlyweds.
The scuba team had abandoned their expensive Zodiac, but thought it
appropriate to return the hired van to collect their $132 deposit.
They were arrested, tried and
sentenced to ten years jail, but
returned to France where they were
soon released. This act was seen
as not only an assault on a private
vessel, it was a terrorist attack by a
foreign government on New Zealand
soil, the only one in its history. The
UN helped broker an agreement
of restitution and Greenpeace
itself won a settlement. Most of
those involved in the plot escaped,
but it was later revealed that the
attack was ordered at the top, from
President Mitterand himself.
FINAL RESTING PLACE AT MATAURI BAY
The bombed ship had huge holes in her hull, and it could not be
repaired. There was much discussion about what to do to honour the
ship. “It was actually bequeathed to Tairua,” explains Roger, “with all
papers signed and plans approved to be sunk near Slipper Island.”
However, Greenpeace decided to instead gift the ship to Maori, to the
disappointment of many at Tairua.
The
Rainbow Warrior
was salvaged of useful items, including the Shells
Restaurant portholes, and her hull was patched enough to survive the
tow to her final resting place, Matauri Bay near the Cavalli Islands. On
12 December 1987 she was scuttled with Maori ceremony, with the
intention to serve as a dive wreck and fish sanctuary. Her masts had been
removed, displayed now at the Dargaville Maritime Museum, and there is
a hillside propeller monument at Matauri.
NZ had been protesting against all forms of nuclear testing since the
early 1960s, and in 1984 declared itself a Nuclear Free Zone. This attack
shocked the nation. Few would have ever thought our stance would
provoke such an action in our peaceful nation. The 1985 protest flotilla
protest swelled in size size due in no small part to the horror people felt at
the bombing.
The new
Rainbow Warrior
returned to Mururoa to protest, and in 1996
was again the subject of an attack by the French military who boarded,
smashed equipment, tear gassed and arrested the crew. January of
1996 saw the last of French underground testing. Ironically the Rainbow
Warrior III included a visit to France on its inaugural world tour.
- Carol Wright
Roger Turner points
to a crack left by the
blast in this porthole
salvaged from the
Rainbow Warrior, shown
left after her bombing in
Auckland Harbour.
THE
SPYTHRILLER SAGA
OF THE
RAINBOW WARRIOR
13
