Luke - Assistant Engineer | Home | Paul (Frank) - Electrician

How did you come to be on this Greenpeace ship? The Rainbow Warrior was docked at Incheon - a small town near Seoul, South Korea, where I have been living for the past five years. It was on a campaign against whaling.

One of my friends called me up and told me that he heard that there would be an 'open day' on the ship. I wasn't feeling very academic that day, so I decided to skip Korean class, and go look at the ship instead.

The visit to the ship must have made a tremendous impression on me, because after the open day, I couldn't stop thinking about it and all the amazing things that Greenpeace does. For the next week, I did my everyday things as usual, but the Rainbow Warrior was always in the back of my mind. I was corresponding with some of the crew via email, and it was through them that I heard that there would be another open day, this time in Busan.

The day before the ship was due to arrive I zipped south to Korea's second largest city on their new bullet train system. I had the name of the place where the Warrior was to dock, a crummy tourist map, my compass and my GPS. I guesstimated the direction I should head, and stared hiking. After 5 hours of walking along some beautiful seaside trails, I found it - The Korean Maritime University! Having found my destination, I decided to head for a backpacker's hostel and get some rest.

After getting up at 3:30 on a misty morning, I headed back to the university. It was just starting to get light when I arrived. After hanging around for a while, I saw a "Korea Friends of the Environment Movement" minibus drive by me. I started walking in the general direction it was driving. A few minutes later, they came back and asked me if I was with Greenpeace.

While I was helping them set up their inflatable welcome-boat, cameramen and reporters from the local news agencies started arriving.

Where before there was only hazy mist over the sea, the faded shape of the bow of the Rainbow Warrior gradually started to appear. It was truly beautiful, and I felt so excited! As it got closer I could see people, and it wasn't long before I started recognising some faces! Gina, the volunteer from Fiji who gave me the first open day tour, was the first of the crew to recognize me!

So, then it started; I followed the ship around from port to port, as it travelled around Korea. Because I could speak some Korean and I know how things work there, I was soon helping the crew out with things like changing money, and finding obscure parts for the ship.
Next thing I knew I was standing on the deck of the Rainbow Warrior, watching the land that has been my home for half a decade slowly fade into the horizon.

Essential survival item for spending time on the ship?
While I would probably survive without it, by far my favourite item on the ship would be the sextant. I feel humbled when I hold such a magnificent instrument, the product of hundreds of years of refinement by the sailors of the seven seas.

If you were marine animal, which one would you be?
I was christened "Beluga" (a kind of whale) during the crossing of the equator ceremony on the way to New Zealand from Korea.

Kia ora Abri! Good to see you back on the ships. Hope we'll see you back here in New Zealand too though!