Fitter Remon: I was working as a ship builder in a little shipyard in Hansweert in the Southwest of the Netherlands. In 2001 we got the order to convert the Esperanza from a Russian Firefighting boat into a Greenpeace ship. She wasn't called Esperanza by then, her transport name was "Ecofighter". Because Greenpeace wanted the ship to be ready as soon as possible we worked 19 hours a day in two shifts. We really stripped her bare and built her up again. I got to know all of her secrets, and as the months passed by the Esperanza got closer and closer to my heart. It was also for the Greenpeace-people I got to work with: We just had the same wavelength - that was what I had been looking for since a long time! Still it was a big step, I had a very good position in the shipyard and had just been promoted. But then the day came when the rainbow was painted. My Esperanza was finally turned into a Greenpeace ship, and I knew: "I want to be part of it." I still love this ship today. Every time I leave I stop for a moment on the gangway and speak to her: "Bye, ship. Take care."

First Mate Pep: I joined Greenpeace as captain on a very small ship - a 20 meter wooden sailing yacht named "Zorba I". Greenpeace Spain used it to do educational one-week-trips with supporters in the Baleares. In June we looked for whales in the Gulf of Lyon. It was one of the best years of my life. The supporters were mostly really nice people, doing a good job helping with the sails and the other work. I still have several friends from that time. As a captain I was in charge of everything, it was really a lot of work. But we were a team and wherever we went people loved us, because we were Greenpeace! In most harbours we didn't even have to pay. Unfortunately the project was stopped one year after I joined. I wanted to go for a new aventure - so I applied for a job at Greenpeace International.

Deckhand Miguel: I got into Greenpeace almost 14 years ago, by different strange ways. My very first knowledge of Greenpeace was the first action at Mexico that they put a mask on a statue and I thought it was a nice way of calling the attention on a pollution issue. Later I saw a music-video on TV of the argentinian group "Rata Blanca". It was a song called "The Rainbow Warriors" - and it was full of images of Greenpeace. I sta i front of the TV and thought: “That is what I want to do!” After long stories I managed to find the Greenpeace-office at Mexico lately on the 1993 year, and since then I´ve been around here, now I am at the ships - and finally doing what I wanted to do.

Chief Engineer Mannes: In 2000 I was about to work on a factory fishing ship. The job interview was to be next tuesday. On thursday night I went to a pub and by coincidence met my cousin Albert - whom I had not seen for seven years. I knew he had worked for Greenpeace. So we started talking and I told him about the job interview. He didn't really want to see anyone of his family helping to empty the oceans, so he said: "Tell me three reasons why you want to do it. And if I can give you three better reasons why you should instead work for Greenpeace you will give it a try." Ok, I told him the work on a factory fishing ship is 1. very challenging for an engineer, 2. well paid and 3. that gives me the opportunity to travel in my spare time, get to know people all over the world and learn more outdoor-skills (By that time I was planning to open later a business organizing adventure sailing holidays). My cousin smiled and said: "Apart from the money: If that's what you want, Greenpeace is the place to be." Well, it was already quite late by that time and the next morning I didn't really remember our agreement. But he rang me straight up and invited me for a coffee. While I was drinking it he picked up the phone, called the office of Greenpeace International, and that was it.