The Rainbow Warrior

Twenty five years ago on July 10 two limpet mines ripped the heart out of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior moored in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour as it prepared to sail in protest at French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

It was an audacious piece of global terrorism which left Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira dead, outraged the people of New Zealand, and caused ripples around the world.

The French Government later admitted it had ordered the ship to be bombed to stop the nuclear test protest. It issued an apology and paid $13 million in compensation to New Zealand.

Two French secret service agents, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were convicted of the manslaughter of Periera and sentenced to 10 years in jail but after negotiations with the French Government were taken to Hao Atoll east of Tahiti in French Polynesia where they stayed in relative comfort for less than three years before they were returned to France.

When the Rainbow Warrior was refloated by the New Zealand navy, it was found to be beyond repair and after a patch up was towed north to Matauri Bay off the Northland coast and scuttled as a dive attraction.

Greenpeace said the 25th anniversary of the first act of international terrorism in New Zealand was likely to be a relatively low-key affair although Whangarei Museum planned to open a display on July 8 of photographs and memorabilia of the bombing.

The main commemoration of sinking happened five years ago when a plaque was fixed to the wreck.

However, in Poland, Greenpeace International plan to mark the event with a formal keel laying ceremony for its new ship, the 57-metre Rainbow Warrior III.

The environmentally friendly ship will mostly sail but its diesel electric engines will give it 10 knots under power.

Greenpeace said the new ship would begin a new chapter in the history of its fleet -- "a custom-built high seas sailing ship, highly fuel efficient with the best green-marine technology."

The new ship would be launched next year and would replace Rainbow Warrior II which was 52 years old and which had campaigned for Greenpeace around the world for 20 years.

The original Rainbow Warrior which bombed in Auckland, began life as the 'Sir William Hardy'-- a fishery research trawler used by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It was built in 1955, and was the first diesel electric ship built in the United Kingdom.