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FRIDAY 16TH JUNE
A wild sort of a night last night, gusting to 40 knots. With the most rudimentary of sail up, the Warrior still managed 9 knots. But with more rolls than a Swiss bakery and several flying sleepers in the night. This morning saw a rather subdued ship with sleepy eyes.
Nine o'clock Friday morning, and suddenly its Thursday again as we cross the dateline -- very strange. The first mate claims he felt the bump, the deckhand says he saw a white line, but Madeleine the third mate, in charge at the time, declares that we should have two Fridays instead. Why? Friday is shower day in the water saving regime on board and everyone wants two showers. No! says the chief engineer, you can't have two shower days in a row! The arrival of a large yellow-fin tuna on the fishing line off the stern gives the cook the last word: two fridays of fresh fish. The crew relents and is happy for the news.
We continue to make our way toward the French test site. News from around the world makes its way to us via the computer and ongoing calls from the media all over the world. We know that political opposition is growing with the European Parliament passing a resolution condemning France's plan to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific just yesterday. We are thrilled by that news. That is a strong addition to the countries that have already condemned or opposed the plan to test: Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific Forum, Japan, Chile, the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Brazil, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and the US.
The EP resolution stated that party nations are "shocked by the decision of French President Chirac" and urged France to reconsider its decision. It also condemned the continuing nuclear tests by China and warned that if nuclear powers breach the spirit or the letter of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), other states could follow suit.
The resolution will now be forwarded to the Council, the Commission, to all Governments who signed the NPT and to the Chairman of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
We here that Greenpeace offices are calling on all of the EP heads of state to bring the issue to the table of both the G-7 Summit now meeting in Halifax, Canada and to the Summit of European Union Heads of State to be held on the 26-27 of June in Cannes, France.
Meanwhile we also hear bits of news about the other raging Greenpeace issue: the effort to stop the dumping of Shell's Brent Spar oil platform into the Atlantic. This campaign is also picking up tremendous steam and we send our well wishes.
More from this rough and tumble boat as we make our voyage.
