Last night it froze and this morning it started snowing. Rainbow Warrior is berthed in a prominent part of Kiel – Santorikai. Across from us there is a Christmas market, and stalls selling gluevine and wurst. One can here the melody play from a magical round-about as it turns. But we are here, once-again protesting against Eon’s building of another coal-power station, this time here in Kiel.
We obtained permission from authorities for this protest, which was a photo-shoot – a CO2 sign ablaze in twilight. The sign was assembled on a raft and towed to a position where Rainbow Warrior lent her grace and held position between the cooling towers and the flaming signature.
Back alongside our comfy berth we have kept the outside of the boat open to public, but one by one, each crew has gone inside. A cold has swept through the decks and there are sniffs and sore-throats lying low. I am one of the fallen – and I gaze through my port hole at the snow fall from grey sky, then turn the page on my novel set in the warmth of Sundabans, a mystical land that may be lost by climate change.
Weather was fair and a good speed made across the German Bight. We anchored in the river Elbe, off Brunsbuttel, for the night and weighed it again at first light for the voyage to continue. Kiel Canal under pilotage (compulsory for any vessel drawing a draft greater than 3 meters). A glorious day, the low wintry sun passed through the open bridge wing door, it cut lines through leafless forests, illuminating mossy green trunks and catching red leaves and gold. Patches of snow sparkled between them. Swans slept, heads craned in, undisturbed by the silent passage past them of Rainbow Warrior. It took eight hours from lock to lock. Now we are in the port of Kiel, on the Baltic Sea, where there is yet another coal-power station being built.
Snow coils upon the mooring ropes, a flurry twirls on the deck. Each line is pulled on board by mitten-clad deck hands. Beluga2 crew wave goodbye from the quayside. I back the boat out of Javakade, turn and head towards Central Station. Snow blows into the bridge through the open door, it collects on the grey carpeted wheel-house floor. Chris finishes with the wheel and goes outside, collects a heap in his hand, then throws a snow-ball at Alex. At IJmuiden we drop off our guests, Gerda is amongst them, another goodbye. As dusk falls, Rainbow warrior heads out into the north sea, destined for the German Bight, the River Elbe and the Kiel Canal.
November 22, 2008 at 11:53 am (1)
Tags: police cell
A heavy steel door clangs, a rattle of keys, one turns in the lock with finality. Sound echoes in the small space. I take in my surroundings – cement bed, plastic mattress, and stainless steel toilet – the walls gloss grey and shimmering with light cast down from a fluorescent tube, too high to reach. I cover the mattress with the two sheets and blanket I’ve been issued and then slip the nylon pillow case over the plastic pillow. It is cold. I climb beneath the covers fully clothed, with a book – it’s about the Sundabans, a love story set in the mangrove forests of India.
When I learned the police had reached the engine control room (through a ventilation shaft), I opened the bridge-wing door and let the rest of them in (our game was over) Rainbow Warrior was seized. Police lifted the anchor and I was directed to take the boat out of Mississippi Haven, out of Europoort, where we had blockaded a coal shipment, been pushed around and run aground.
I spent 24 hours in the police cell. They let me out twice, twenty minutes each time, into a paved courtyard with towering red brick walls – looking up I saw clouds through a wire mesh screen. In my cell there was no natural light, just the fluorescent tube that could not be turned off – it was torture. Light torture. A timeless violation of human rights.
At 1600hrs on Sunday 16 November 2008, Rainbow Warrior anchored – 2 shackles in the water, port anchor – in the middle of the channel to Mississippihaven of Rotterdam’s Europort. I positioned the boat between M1 (green) and M4 (red) channel markers. It had been a cat-and-mouse entrance to Rotterdam, weaving between a large police boat (the same one that assaulted us at anchor the previous night) and two harbour tugs. I called Europort on VHF ch 66 and told them why. We were there to blockade shipments of coal destined for Eon, in protest at the building of a new coal-fired power station.
At approximately 1705 tugs RPA20 and P5 commenced pushing together. I became concerned that they would push us aground and alerted Europort, who acknowledged my call. But the tugs continued to push. At 1712 I de-clutched the propeller from the shaft in expectation of grounding. At 1714 I felt the bump near the stern that indicated the RW had run aground, but the tugs continued pushing and the bow swung to starboard until the RW heeled over bodily to starboard, indicating we had gone aground the entire length of the vessel. I displayed two red lights to indicate aground (the anchor lights where already shining bright). The tugs then withdrew back into the channel. We inspected the bilges for ingress of water. There were no signs of flooding.
A fresh NNW’ly wind (offshore) blew at the time and at 1725 I instructed crew to set all four sails (in fore/aft position), starting with the mizzen. Rainbow Warrior heeled over to port and then at 1730 floated again. Using the sails to push bodily to port I instructed the bow to heave gently on the port anchor. Rainbow Warrior returned to mid channel, repositioned and dropped anchor again to continue the blockade.
One-hundred activists were taken away, scattered in police holding cells all over Rotterdam. Removed from a peaceful protest – a climate defenders camp – on the building site of the new Eon power station in Rotterdam. The night came; Rainbow Warrior and Beluga2 settled into it, at anchor. My telephone rang, it was the police. It rang again, the police were ordering me to come inside harbour. I was in a difficult position as I wanted to comply but had to refuse for two reasons: 1) it was now dark and dangerous to navigate, and 2) we were all very tired – following a long day of activity. It was safest to remain at anchor, the weather was good. The police threatened to ‘storm the vessel’ and the phone stopped ringing. It was quiet for an hour.
Two objects moved in the Maas Mond. I watched their trails indicate they had turned – they were headed our way. Two large police boats were approaching and Rainbow Warrior became lit up in the beam of a search light. I counted silhouettes behind the wheel-house windows as they passed down our side. Shouting. Someone was shouting from the police deck to remove the inflatables from the side of the Rainbow Warrior “or we will be forced to crush them” the voice screamed out. More shouting, “move it, move it”. A time limit was imposed. The shouter came on board, red in the face with rage. He brought eight heavily armed me with him.
Rainbow Warrior and Beluga2 are anchored off Rotterdam, off the Europoort, in sight of another Eon Power Station (on my world tour of coal-fired-power stations). I used to carry coal to this port from South Africa (many years ago when I did not think…). Back then there were two smoking chimneys producing CO2 and a little energy besides. Now there is a third, taller, broader, standing beside them – but it has not started to smoke yet. It’s part of a new power station being built by Eon on the Maas Vlakte in Netherlands. Crazy – at a time when the world is awakening to the very REAL threat of Climate Change – here is the Kingdom of the Netherlands burying its head in the sand.
We needed to shift from one berth to another, the fishing boats would return to port on Friday, wanting their place in Visserhaven – not wanting to see a Greenpeace boat in their way.Tapio started the engine, crew cast off the lines and I turned the boat to head around the corner.As we came around the knuckle (the end of the quay), I started turning to starboard in approach of the new berth.But there was one long canal barge – heavily laden with sand for man made Holland – it was coming from the opposite direction and turning to port to approach the locks (we were turning in towards each other). I stopped my turn and put the engines astern, but Rainbow Warrior kept moving forward.I rang full-astern and started to move sideways towards the same locks. The canal barge cleared and left me in a strange place in a strong current with only one choice: wheel hard to starboard and full ahead.There was not enough distance to turn the boat to face the incoming tide off the berth, so when we were just ten meters off – keeping the engines on full ahead and wheel hard-over – I instructed the bow over the radio, “let go starboard anchor”.The anchor bit into the harbour floor and held the bow off the quay to let the stern of the Rainbow Warrior come neatly alongside.
