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Paradise Forests of Asia Pacific | |
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-- crew biography -- Derek, Captain How long have you been working on ships? Well, I first went to sea when I was fifteen, in 1966. I went to school for two years to learn how to be a seaman then worked on a commercial ship. I haven't been a sailor all the time since then. I've had other jobs. But I've spent a lot of it working on ships. I worked for ten years as a commercial fisherman in New Zealand, for instance - just me out on my own thirty-foot boat. How did you first get involved with Greenpeace? It was the sinking of the first Rainbow Warrior that woke me up to their existence. I'd never taken much notice of Greenpeace before that. I Was living in Auckland at the time. Sometime later, Greenpeace approached me through a friend who was working as an engineer for them, and offered me a job. My first trip was here on this ship as a bosun. We documented Japanese drift net fishing in the North Pacific. Confiscated a 30- kilometer net in the end. When was your first trip as captain? In 1995, it was a tour of New Zealand for the toxics campaign, highlighting dirty practices. What is you favorite Greenpeace action? Moruroa was the most memorable [protesting at the French nuclear weapons test site]. I was arrested twice. The first time was 1995. The French towed this ship into the lagoon. Most of the crew was deported. I was the second mate, and was locked up on a French warship with the captain, chief engineer chief mate and the campaigner. Treated well though, nice French cheese. Afterwards they let us go, and the four of us had to sail the Warrior to Rarotonga by ourselves. It was in 1996 when we were really successful. I was on the Rainbow Warrior again. The MV Greenpeace was also there, and a flotilla of boats from New Zealand. The French commandos nabbed us very quickly that time. They cut every cable on the ship, especially in the radio room, and towed us to Hao atoll. Again they deported most of the crew. They flew the rest of us by military plane to France. Had to stop in Los Angeles to refuel. We screamed to get off demanded to contact our consulates. Paula, the American in the group did get to leave. The rest of us were taken to Paris. We were never charged. In the end, they flew me back to New Zealand, but I was banned from visiting the Schengen [many EU] countries until only last year. Do you think the protests worked? Well they stopped testing didn't they? How much of that was Greenpeace... But there's no doubt Greenpeace had a hand in stopping nuclear testing by the French Military in the Pacific . What are your thoughts on non-violence? I agree with non-violence, obviously. I think some people make it too complicated. It's not. It's very simple really. Some of the places we are working now, it does take on a whole new meaning. Usually where we have worked maybe people have had guns, but you could be fairly sure they wouldn't shoot you with them. Here that might not be the case. |
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