Diary Updates from the Arctic Sunrise en route to Canada
- INDEX
- June 1 1997:
- May 29 1997:
- May 22 1997:
- May 29 1997:
June 1 1997:
Crew update from MV Arctic Sunrise
From Alice.
An Albatross swings across crests of waves; wing tip so close, yet never so much as drop of ocean disturbed through hour after hour of precision rollercoasting with the mearest flick of a wing. The grace of this flight, in the gathering westerly wind, heralds higher latitudes. We are now as far north as we were south when we left New Zealand, and a matter of days left before we reach our destination of Vancouver. The heat of the tropics has melted rapidly through balmy nights around Hawaii to a cool, brisk sou'westerly, and a dig through the drawer for a jumper! No more swimstops in twenty eight degrees of azure infinity; damp blue-grey is more the order of the day.
It is Sunday, so a relaxing day apart from the daily requirements of the ship. Probably the last relaxing day for the next few weeks as we shall be into the campaign in a few days. Some good work has been done the last three weeks, and the weather has been kind to us. Now disccusion turns from what needs be done on the ship to what needs be done for the coming weeks. A wealth of information has quietly been absorbed these last weeks relating to the issue of what is - and has happened to - the state of coastal temperate rainforests in British Columbia. But this is not a new issue, and several of us have been here before. For B.C. has been characterised in the past as the "Brazil of the north," as in 1992 it was the case that Brazil was losing an acre of forest every nine seconds, while in B.C. it took twelve. There is a long running debate within the province as well as globally, and the facts you will find elsewhere. But one thing is sure: the forests are getting severely hammered. The confluence of aspects is very interesting: use - and control - of resources, ownership of land, control of markets, number of jobs, sustainability of the industry, affects on present and future community economics, loss of habitat, biodiversity, the right to life of other creatures, climate change and the role of government (to name but a few!).The big issue on the ground is: to clearcut, or not to clearcut? And whether this is a sound method of forestry, economically as well as ecologically. These are some of the points that are raised in a crew meeting in the afternoon where the varied experience, information and perspective of the group come together to provide plenty of food for thought. This is where the disparate nature of our ships' crews can really come into their own: a menagerie of visions and values that illustrate the international essence of Greenpeace, and indeed of these complex issues we confront.
Meanwhile, the Black-Footed Albatross dares the dark sea to so much as dampen its wing tip. Its been with us several days now, keeping an eye on us perhaps? Or a reminder that there is a vast natural world out there, that we must learn to live with, not against, just as the Albatross lives with wind and sea.
May 29 1997:
Crew update from MV Arctic Sunrise en-route to Canada.
From Alice.
We are over the equator now on our journey northward, and the "Arctic Sunrise" is well settled into a routine after more than two weeks at sea. The hour of one's watch comes and goes, a fixture of the clock; whilst the natural rhythms of the planet change visibly from day to day. For we are moving from late autumn in the South to summer in the North. Today we passed right under the sun: it has been in the northern sky all the while, but tomorrow it will be in the south. Yet the strangest thing of all happened when we crossed a line that has no mark, save on the chart: the Equator. We had been in the northern hemisphere only a matter of an hour or more when suddenly - Ho! Pirates! We're boarded by pirates!!
Raging around, these ugly folk - raggedly attired, covered in scars and tattoos, and with swords smeared with dark red blood - carried off three of the ship's crew, those whom it appeared had never before crossed The Line. The rest of the crew was nowhere to be found as the 'Sunrise' lay idle in the glistening sea (yet it did seem that there was a faint resemblance between some of these blood- curdling pirates and one or two of the ship's compliment, but why let that spoil a good yarn?). Soon King Neptune Himself appeared, wearing a crown cut from an old ice cream carton and reclining on a garden chair - I mean resplendant in His Deep Ocean Jewels upon His Noble Fishy Throne - on the helicopter deck. The three unfortunates were one by one bought before the toothless old man (did you know the cook had false teeth? I didn't) and initiated into the Ancient Order Of Shellbacks. All seafarers who cross The Old Man Of The Sea's Line must join if they are to travel further upon the waters of the Earth - or so Neptune and his pirate mates declared, and who was there to argue?. So after a bit of theatrics and plenty of laughter a celebration of Crossing the Line was proclaimed, at which point the pirates and Neptune mysteriously disappeared back into the Deep, and the remainder of the ship's crew reappeared from wherever they had been for the past hour to enjoy the subsequent barbeque!
Well, it's not everyday you get to Cross the Line and meet King Neptune Himself, it is certainly a once in a lifetime occasion the first time you do so on a ship, and on the Greenpeace ships we have a tradition of not allowing such an auspicious event to pass unmarked! A great chance to tap the humorous creativity of our motley crew of many nations, and a fine excuse for an afternoon of levity in these languid latitudes.
May 22 1997
A personal view from Alice.
Brilliant burning sunrises that inflame the east, and a sea as blue and deep as the sky. The Pacific Ocean in all it's glory. Just like a dream - untill RATATAT!! Hold on! this wasn't in the brochure was it? It's 8.30a.m. and the start of another working day on board. For such beautiful weather also gives us the opportunity to get down and give the helicopter deck that real good going over that it has needed for a while. However the unholy racket of compressed air driven chisels hammering the old paint and rust off the deck is somewhat incongruous with the surroundings. But we have a working boat to keep in good shape, and once we get to Canada she will be too busy campaigning for the next months to have much of this sort of work done to her.
We spent two and a half weeks in Auckland doing maintenance work, and got some good jobs dealt with, particularly with the help of some great volunteers who came and lived with us for a couple of weeks and gave no small part of their energy to help us keep the Sunrise in good shape. For this ship has many shareholders: thousands of people who have contributed in a multitude of ways to enable this ship to carry out her work; and we who work on her are keenly aware of our responsibility to all those supporters. So sorry to spoil the picture-book scene everyone, we'll just have to put up with the noise for a few days yet. Mind you, helps us to appreciate the beauty of our surroundings all the more when the rust chipping does finally stop and we brush the dust off our sweating bodies at the end of another blistering day. Time to sit back for a moment, and watch the fire in the heavens once more. Now the stars slip from their hiding places, one by one, to wink at each other now the sun has wandered on elsewhere on its never ending daily labour. Why are we doing this? As the Frigate bird heads homeward to a distant atoll, and a flying fish skips across the water in the last of the days rays, we know why. What we don't know is why it should be otherwise.