DIARY UPDATE FROM THE CREW OF THE RAINBOW WARRIOR:

TUESDAY 20TH JUNE 07:22:07 GMT Part I.

A quiet Monday morning, just moving into second gear, when wheeooo, wheeooo and the fire alarm propels bodies out of every corner of the ship onto the deck. The last watch leap from their beds, the cooks come from their soup, the campaigners from their computers and the videographer from his pulp western. False alarm (the engineers forgot to turn off the smoke detector before doing some osxy-acetylene cutting) but the mate calls "carry on" so we do a live drill. All went pretty smoothly too, which is always good to see.

86KB GIF or 29KB JPG. ©Greenpeace/Morgan

With the swell down to 1-2 metres, the afternoon is taken up with boat training. Two inflatables are launched and using continually rotating crews old hands brush up their skills and newer ones receive some tuition. Today the main points to practice are launching procedures and the transfer of people to and from the ship. A deep red setting sun puts the seal on a lovely day, one that will no doubt set the pattern for the week ahead.

80KB GIF or 32KB JPG. ©Greenpeace/Morgan

We have heard from our colleagues in France that a large rally\march is taking place in Paris this evening with over 90 environmental, labour, church and peace groups joining together to protest against Chirac's announcement. Also we've heard that 50 other towns will join in protest outside of Paris and a national day of protest against testing is being planned for 1 July, 3 pm in Paris as well. These protests are taking place at perfect time as a political envoy from Australia was meeting with French officials on the issue today. A recent Reuters poll reporting that 75 per cent of French people are opposed to the resumption of nuclear testing is good news to us. With opposition growing world wide its good to know that the French public are adding their voices.

From: Alice Leney and crew on SV Rainbow Warrior

TUES 20-JUN-95 14:41:04 GMT -- Part 2

Early afternoon, and bright warm sunshine on deck. The crew gather for a discussion on various aspects of non-violent protest. Moving from a general talk on the theory of non-violent action and the use of it by Greenpeace as a force for change, we arrive at the specifics of the sort of response we might expect from the French military authorities as we approach the French test site. Greenpeace's past experiences at Moruroa and on other quite different campaigns is discussed.

Commitment to non-violence is of course not a problem amongst the crew and there is a wealth of experience that will serve use well in coming weeks. But group discussion and clarification of different courses of action is an essential part of creating a body of people -- in this case the crew -- who can work together as a team under difficult conditions. A cohesive, well co- ordinated crew is a sweet thing to see as it swings into action -- look out Moruroa!

News from around the world has given us a great boost. If the giant Shell oil company can be convinced to see the irresponsibility of dumping tonnes of industrial waste (ie a used oil platform) at sea, perhaps then M. Chirac can be convinced of the absurdity of resuming nuclear weapons tests. And for whom are your bombs intended, M. Chirac?

Alice (richard) Leney, on board Rainbow Warrior.