MV Rainbow Warrior

The Rainbow Warrior is perhaps the most famous Greenpeace ship due to its predecessor sinking in1985 after a French Secret Service agent planted two bombs on the ship in New Zealand .

The current Rainbow Warrior was launched on 10 July 1989, the fourth anniversary of the original ship's sinking.

The ship's name was inspired by a North American indigenous prophecy that influenced the crew on board the Phyllis Cormack, during the first Greenpeace voyage.

The prophecy foresees a time when humans, through greed, have destroyed the world, and the Warriors of the Rainbow rise to save it.

Some of the Rainbow Warrior's greatest moments took place when it returned to Moruroa in 1995 to protest France's resumption of nuclear testing.

After being rammed and stormed by French commandos, the Rainbow Warrior immediately continued the protest by joining a peace flotilla with ships from around the world, before being stormed again and having its crew arrested.

Details and Specifications

Greenpeace converted the Rainbow Warrior into a motor/sailing vessel by constructing three masts on the hull of a North Sea fishing trawler formerly called the Grampian Fame.

It is an ocean-going vessel equipped with the latest in electronic navigation, sailing and communication equipment.

Port of registry: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date of purchase: 1987
Number of berths: 30
Number of inflatables: 1 Avon Searider 1x 200hp optimax outboards
2 Novurania 45ph 4 stroke outboards
2 Avon 45 hp 4 Stroke outboards
Type of ship: Motor Assisted Schooner
Call sign: PC 8024
Built: 1957 by Cochrane & Sons, Selby, U.K
Gross tons: 555
Length: 55.20 m
Breadth: 8.54 m
Draught: 4.5 m
Maximum speed: 12 knots (2 engines, 3000 L/day)
Engines: 2 Diesel type Deutz M.W.M. 2 x 6 Cylinder, 2 x 500kW
Sailing Speed: 5-7 knots average
Sails: 650 m2
Max Airdraft 41 m