Mike Mate

In the log book I enter the remaining on board fuel figures and sign beneath as the last captain of the Rainbow Warrior. Alain Connan stands beside me at the chart table, making a similar entry onto the first page of a new logbook, that of the Rongdhonu – he signs on as captain and I as his chief mate.

Alain was one of the first captains of Rainbow Warrior II in 1989. He positioned ‘Dave the Dolphin’ on the bow. At 78 years of age he is a grand master story teller and I am the lucky one to have the opportunity to hear those stories as we cross the Bay of Bengal.

The Rainbow Warrior has been handed over to the organisation Friendship, a Bangladesh based NGO. She has been renamed “Rongdhonu”, Bengali for Rainbow, and will be refitted as a hospital ship serving the coastal belt of Bangladesh, delivering primary and secondary medical assistance to some of the most vulnerable communities of the world.

Greenpeace has acted responsibly in the donation of the boat. In the contract with Friendship there is provision that when the time comes for the Rongdhonu to be scrapped, that it will be done to the highest environmental standards and that Greenpeace will provide financial assistance to make sure this happens. Greenpeace also have the right of approval of any potential future owners to ensure that the commitment to these standards will be kept and that the ship will end her life in the manner she has advocated for so many years.

We are all set to sail. The crew remains essentially the same for the delivery voyage to Chittagong. The weather is looking good with a steady SW monsoon and we should be able to get the rags out for one last glorious sail. We will have no internet or email or telephone for this crossing – only radio and telex. We will disappear and pop up on the other side.

I close now, with love and peace.
mike

First mate of the Rongdhunu