Captain's blog: Medway Morning Mooring

Posted by bex - 29 October 2008 at 10:05pm - Comments

Captain MikeSee all Rainbow Warrior tour updates or get them by email. 

Here's Captain Mike's take on today's events, written for his personal blog: 

“Rainbow Warrior you are entering the Medway compulsory pilotage area without a pilot. You must stop your vessel and leave the area. You are breaking maritime law.” That’s what the Medway Vessel Traffic Service told me this morning. But, I kept the throttle down and Rainbow Warrior (flanked by eight zodiacs) pointing at an antiquated technology that is consuming the planet. I did inform the VTS when we passed Grain Edge navigation buoy, that we’d entered the Medway channel. I chose not to take a pilot this morning for fear of implicating my fellow mariners in a civilly disobedient activity. In the past week I have done two trips down the Medway, past Kingsnorth, to Chatham Ness - both trips under pilotage with me paying utmost attention to the local navigation.

Read the rest (and while you're there, have a good browse - Mike writes beautifully).

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, coal ship tour, direct actions, kingsnorth, mike finken, rainbow warrior
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AHOY Everyone on Rainbow Warrior,
Just wanted you all to know how much you are valued and appreciated by me, my family and friends (AND, I am sure, thousands of others too busy working etc. to tell you themselves).

Thank you so very much for your excellent efforts and hard work.

All good wishes and much luck to you all for your
"Onward Journey"

Have a well deserved, beautiful day, Joanie Patel x

By joaniewp - 30 October 2008 at 12:36pm

We did indeed have a beautiful day :-)

I'll pass on your message to the crew - it will mean a lot to them.

Bex
gpuk

By bex - 31 October 2008 at 5:49pm

Tell me Captain?......Why are you sitting on the Medway, when the Japanese Fleet is gearing up to slaughter whales in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary?????? Why is Greenpeace making millions of Dollars on the "whaling Issue", yet not sending a ship to the Southern Ocean??

Every Greenpeace Crewmember should hang their heads in shame!!!!!!!!!

By DarkDolphin - 4 November 2008 at 8:45pm

There are a number of reasons why the Captain of the Rainbow Warrior will not be doing as you suggest, darkdolphin: chief among them is the fact that the Warrior is not an ice-class ship, and as such has no clearance to sail in Antarctic waters. So you'd effectively be sending the crew to their deaths if they followed your suggestion...

The two Greenpeace vessels that do, Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise, have been down to try and stop the whale hunt every winter for the past few years, with (like Sea Shepherd) limited success.

If you've been following the logic of the whaling campaign over the past few years, it's obvious that Greenpeace have realised that the only way to win this one is to go straight to the heart of the problem - the Japanese Government and public opinion.

This fight cannot be won in the Southern Ocean, it can only be won in Japanese hearts and minds. I will be certainly more than happy to continue my donations toward such a strong, brave organisation. I applaud them and hope Sea Shepherd will get on with their campaign too, rather than miserably trying to blemish Greenpeace’s name for the sake of publicity. Save the whales!!!

By slowdazzle - 5 November 2008 at 6:39pm

AHOY Everyone on Rainbow Warrior, Just wanted you all to know how much you are valued and appreciated by me, my family and friends (AND, I am sure, thousands of others too busy working etc. to tell you themselves). Thank you so very much for your excellent efforts and hard work. All good wishes and much luck to you all for your "Onward Journey" Have a well deserved, beautiful day, Joanie Patel x

By joaniewp - 30 October 2008 at 12:36pm

We did indeed have a beautiful day :-) I'll pass on your message to the crew - it will mean a lot to them. Bex gpuk

By bex - 31 October 2008 at 5:49pm

Tell me Captain?......Why are you sitting on the Medway, when the Japanese Fleet is gearing up to slaughter whales in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary?????? Why is Greenpeace making millions of Dollars on the "whaling Issue", yet not sending a ship to the Southern Ocean?? Every Greenpeace Crewmember should hang their heads in shame!!!!!!!!!

By DarkDolphin - 4 November 2008 at 8:45pm

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