The Greenpeace ship has been doing a tour of NZ to promote targets on climate change, encouraging the government to set solid targets in the legislation currently going though parliament. We went aboard for an inspiring visit.
The first Rainbow Warrior was of course bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbour by the French, in their efforts to stop media attention and passive resistance to their nuclear tests in the Pacific. We were told that the ship's bell in the wheelhouse was recovered from that first boat. Alain Maffard (we're not this minute sure of the spelling) who was one of the two people convicted of the bombing, is now senior in the Environment Ministry in France, and by a quirk of history was the leader of a delegation to RW when she was moored in Marseilles to publicise pollution in the Mediterranean. He waffled a lot, and then the skipper told him that all important visitors to the vessel rang the bell. He did so, and was then told where it comes from.
The media (duly pre-briefed of course) were all watching, and so he then had to honestly address the issues raised by Greenpeace. A small crumb of revenge, and it made some use of the French attacks.