'Arctic Sunrise' a glow on the ocean

'Arctic Sunrise' a glow on the ocean

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

It was a hot morning at Benoa Harbor, some 25 kilometers south
of Denpasar. The air was stark and fresh and the sea was an
unbelievable dark blue.

In the quiet part of the harbor, the grass-green colored
Arctic Sunrise, which belongs to the militant environmentalist
movement Greenpeace, stood regally beside the white Australian
vessels docked nearby.

The Arctic Sunrise ship, one of the bases used by the
organization to campaign and to fight for its goals, is far from
threatening to look at.

The flying dove followed by a rainbow painted on the side of
the ship, and whales and dolphins painted on the helm hardly
reflect the many times the ship has struck fear in the hearts of
environmental violators.

"It is named Arctic because it is an ice-breaker used in
Arctic seas. I don't know about the Sunrise, maybe because it's a
beautiful name," said Richard Watson from the Greenpeace United
Kingdom office.

The Arctic Sunrise is a medium-sized vessel, weighing 949
gross tons. It is 49.62 meters long and 11.50 meters wide, and
sits about 5.30 meters above the water. The ship can only
accommodate around 30 people.

On Oct. 22, 1984, Greenpeace activists first used the ship to
protest oil and mineral exploitation in the Antarctica. The
French government had chartered the ship, at the time named the
Polarbjorn, to deliver heavy equipment for an airstrip that would
go through a penguin habitat on the Arctic continent. The ship
was later acquired by Greenpeace, which renamed it the Arctic
Sunrise in 1995.

Since then the Arctic Sunrise has been used by the
organization in its campaigns, including in the investigation of
pollution from oil rigs in the North Sea, a toxic waste case in
the Mediterranean, the impact of climatic change in the
Antarctica and in a campaign to save the overfished Southern
Bluefin Tuna near New Zealand.

Before heading to Bali, Greenpeace was on a mission in Papua
New Guinea to protest illegal logging. During the last two weeks,
members of Greenpeace have joined local and international non-
governmental organizations in the PrepCom IV meeting to fight for
sustainable development preceding the upcoming World Summit in
Johannesburg next August.

In Bali, the ship became a major base for Indonesian and
international NGOs to voice their objections to various
grievances, including debt writeoffs for developing countries.

Four speedboats are latched tightly onto the Arctic Sunrise
for sea actions that require agility and speed, and a small
orange helicopter named Tweety is on board.

Tweety is usually stored in the hull and only taken out
through an opening on deck when needed.

More than a campaign base for numerous NGOs, the Arctic
Sunrise is also home to Greenpeace's more than 20 crew members
that joined the ship for the trip to Indonesia. Each crew is on
duty at sea for four months.

"Only a special type of person can do it (stay on board that
long)," Watson said.

Working for Greenpeace has been so satisfying, he said. People
can do something they believe in and, at the same time, have a
great time doing it.

Sailing on a ship for four months can be boring and tiring,
but the Arctic Sunrise has comfortable cabins. In addition to
personal cabins for crew members, the three-deck ship has a
common room equipped with recreational equipment such as games,
television, videos, a shelf full of books and a small bar, all of
which are latched down in case the ship runs into heavy weather.

The ship also has a fully stocked kitchen and pantry, and the
services of a professional chef, a darkroom for photography
processing, a multimedia room for sending footage or releases of
activities throughout the world and, most importantly, a laundry.

All crew members are professionals; with those coming in
already with special training for the sea, or those trained after
they join Greenpeace, he said.

Also, the number of women working on the ship is surprisingly
high, about 50 percent of the entire crew. Clad in dirty overalls
and scruffy caps, the women join the men in doing various ship
duties, including lowering or raising the sail and machinery
work.

Watson joined Greenpeace in 1988 with a job description as
wide-ranging as professional climber, metalworker and welder.

"Most importantly is you've got to have passion," he asserted
as one of the main criteria in joining Greenpeace's fights
against unsustainable development.

The Arctic Sunrise said goodbye to Bali as it left Benoa
Harbor on Friday afternoon and headed for Hong Kong.