Famous Greenpeace vessel sails home

After a lifetime of endeavours in the name of peace and sustainability, the Vega is back in NZ waters. Gill Alcock relives its history with one of its skippers Daniel Mares…

The Greenpeace vessel Vega is carved into the memories of many Waiheke islanders as they, and the boat, played a major role protesting in the name of Greenpeace.

Vega is most famous for her many journeys to Moruroa Atoll, in French Polynesia, where the French Government conducted its nuclear testing programme. She visited Moruroa numerous times between 1972 and 1995 as part of the nuclear free Pacific protests that involved many New Zealand boats and that eventually saw the French abandon nuclear testing in 1996.

Vega is in the news again after a group purchased the vessel and brought it back to NZ where they hope to keep it for educational purposes and, if asked, for further Greenpeace trips.

The group is headed by Waiheke Islander Daniel Mares who spent many years on board as mate, first mate and later skipper. He and I spent a sunny afternoon reminiscing about his involvement with Vega and the part she has played in his life.

Vega – named after the brightest star in the Northern hemisphere – was built out of a large kauri log on a beach in Northland and launched in 1949. It is said Alan Orams built her and loved the process so much, that rather than sail her, he sold her then turned to boat building full-time.

Her history with Greenpeace began in the early 1970s when owner at the time, David McTaggart, a Canadian living in NZ, and later a chairman of Greenpeace International, answered an advert placed by Greenpeace for vessels to protest against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

David first sailed to Moruroa in 1972 but it was on a second sailing in 1973 that Vega hit the headlines when she was rammed, in international waters, by a French minesweeper. McTaggart was seriously assaulted in the attack and placed under arrest.

A crew member smuggled out film that exposed the assault that the French denied had happened. In the ensuing outcry the French announced that future bomb tests would be underground, and in a ruling that embarrassed President Mitterrand’s government, McTaggart was awarded damages by the French court. Unfortunately the costs of all the legal wrangling meant the Vega had to be sold and she stayed in private ownership until Greenpeace bought her back in the early 1980s.

The following years saw her at protests against underground nuclear testing and as part of the peace squadron keeping nuclear powered and armed ships out of NZ and Australia.

It was when Greenpeace wanted to raise awareness of Australia’s uranium mining that Daniel met her. Interested in Greenpeace, Daniel had stopped by the dry dock when Vega was in for a refit. He offered then skipper Chris Robinson help to sand the boat and, following a series of coincidences and opportunist moments, Daniel found himself included in the crew circumnavigating Australia and later on a trip to New Zealand.

Although it was meant to be just a visit, Daniel ended up working full-time on a boat doing the run to Great Barrier, learning his craft and getting professionally qualified.

It was during this time Rainbow Warrior I arrived in New Zealand waters.

“I took a case of beer across to them and we partied,” says Daniel. “I realised then how big the organisation was and I became good friends with all the crew.”

Luckily Daniel was not on board when the bombing took place that killed Fernando Pereira. Nor did he go on the 1985 Alliance sailing to Moruroa. But he was part of the campaign to get the Vega released after she was “arrested” during a protest against the nuclear powered USS Ramsey, in Brisbane in 1987. The Vega had been rammed again, this time by a police boat and impounded, and seven Greenpeace protesters and crew had been arrested and faced up to seven years gaol for blocking a waterway.

Another Waiheke name, Trevor Darvill, was part of her crew at the time and after being held for six months, he and Vega were released in time to meet Daniel and see the Rainbow Warrior laid to rest in 1987.

Vega was next used for the Pacific Peace Tour of USA, during which Daniel met his wife Pia Mancia.

The crew, which featured another Waihekean Sarah Hancock and was again skippered by Trevor, visited Hawaii where Pia — the tour organiser — came on board. Daniel and Pia became a couple, working together for several years on the west coast of America before Daniel was promoted to skipper of the Vega in Vancouver (the birthplace of Greenpeace), they set off for Japan to protest against whaling and nuclear powered shipping.

During further protests off the Russian coast, Vega was dwarfed by Russian war ships determined to keep her out of Vladivostok. Daniel and the Vega crew were kept “confined” for days while the Russians deliberated over their visas.

Back in Japan, Daniel joined Rainbow Warrior II but over time he kept being drawn back to Vega. One trip on Vega in 1993 saw him sailing between Italy and Greece, to raise awareness on such issues as turtle-nesting beach protection and driftnet fishing.

In 1995 Vega — minus Daniel — was back in Moruroa and was one of eight vessels “arrested”. When she was released, eight months later, Daniel cleaned her up and skippered her back to New Zealand.

When David McTaggart retired from Greenpeace in 1998, she was given to him as a “thank you” and after a refit in 2000, she visited Onetangi on her way home to Italy where David lived. Sadly just a year later he died and the vessel was left in his will to Chris Robinson. Again, Vega was sailed back to the southern hemisphere, visiting Matiatia to celebrate Chris’s 50th in 2002.

“I saw her as I was getting off the ferry,” recalls Daniel. “It was great to see her bobbing up and down. She’s such an unassuming little boat.”

Chris ensured she continued her work, protesting on projects in Australia but he too passed away and after contact from his family, Daniel and a small group of Vega enthusiasts put up the money for her purchase.

“This group knows her mana and her history,” says Daniel who, after getting her seaworthy, sailed Vega back to NZ last week. It was nine days of perfect sailing.

“We had the wind behind us all the way. We caught fresh skipjack tuna every day and saw lots of dolphins. She sailed beautifully,” says Daniel who is now busy trying to find a home for her.

Currently the Maritime Museum is giving her a berth while moorings on Waiheke are being looked into.

“We are looking at where she can live as we feel she’s important to Kiwi history,” says Daniel. “A trust will eventually maintain her and give her projects to work on. The concept is to keep her sailing and hopefully doing good works. But first we had to secure her and bring her home here, where she has lots of friends.”

For more information or to offer ideas phone Daniel and Pia on 372 6661.