A history of the Rainbow Warrior, in pictures

With the Rainbow Warrior on her way to the UK, we thought we'd put together a slideshow to share a few of the highs - and lows - of her remarkable history. Our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior has travelled from South America to the South Pacific, the Antarctic to the Atlantic - an icon for environmentalists around the globe.

The ship coming to the UK is of course the Rainbow Warrior II; the original vessel was sunk in 1985 by French government agents trying to foil protests at their nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific. (The ship's name was inspired by a Native American prophecy which foretells a time when human greed would make the world sick, and warriors of the rainbow would come together to save it.)