| History of the Rainbow Warrior and timeline relating to the present shipwreck | ||
| The shipwreck behaves somewhat like an artificial reef, created from scratch. But over time the rust began. | ||
| Tips for diving the Rainbow Warrior and for nightdiving. | ||
| Time has proved that the location for the ship wreck was chosen with care | ||
| Photo gallery of photos taken under water at the Rainbow Warrior shipwreck | ||
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external
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| Books and references (on this page) | ||
| A log of recent changes to this section (on this page) |
Looking up through the anchor chute. This spot is well
protected, yet in the main current, hence its abundance. Dust cannot settle
on these delicate organisms because they reside upside down in the anchor
well.
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home page or our sitemap.
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| History and timeline
The story of the Rainbow Warrior wreck will forever stand out from all others. Bombed by French secret service agents while moored safely in Auckland Harbour, it sank quickly while photographer Fernando Pereira died from the second bomb explosion. An act of war or of state terrorism against innocent New Zealand and an organisation championing for peace, that will never be forgotten nor forgiven. |
The Rainbow Warrior was sent to New zealand to lead a flotilla of voluntary
yachts protesting against the French' nuclear testing at Mururoa. The Rainbow
Warrior had been there before, being boarded by French commandoes. The
French Secret Service infiltrated Greenpeace Canada and was thus aware
of all plans. Then they decided to do the unthinkable: bomb the ship while
in an innocent small country.
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 Monument
(and photo) by Chris Booth http://www.chrisbooth.co.nz/rainbow.html
. Commissioned by Ngati Kura and New Zealand China Clays (near Matauri
Bay) to commemorate the sinking of the Greenpeace ship ‘Rainbow Warrior’
by French agents in 1985. Obtaining the local materials by sea was fraught
with difficulties as this is the Pacific Ocean and storms were prevalent
that year. Despite giving time for the project, funding was hard to come
by. However, local support was generous. Reparation funds from the French
government paid the final bills.
According to Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warrior’s name is taken from a North American Indian prophecy - “There would come a time when the earth would be ravaged, the seas blackened, the streams poisoned and the birds fall from the sky. Just before it was too late, said the prophecy, people of all races and creeds would rise up and band together to become Warriors of the Rainbow and return the earth to its natural beauty and harmony". The spirit of this ancient story became the inspiration for the early Greenpeace activists, and a valued part of the Greenpeace legacy. |
| Ecology
Behind the business of scuttling ships is the idea that they may become artificial reefs, thus hopefully enhancing the environment. An artificial reef created on a monotone expanse of sandy bottom, indeed becomes like an oasis where everything is found what the sand habitat lacks: substrate and shelter (and elevation towards the light). If a wreck is large enough, it could even maintain its own ecosystem where everything depends on and lives from everything else. Had ships been made from concrete, this ideal could indeed be reached. However, ships are made of steel, and they rust. |
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Immediately after the ship was scuttled, it became a giant settlement experiment. The first organisms to settle were pesky barnacles, covering the entire ship while hiding the white peace dove. But easy come, easy go, and the barnacles disappeared to make room for more durable life. That was given to bryozoa (moss animals). Huge balls of finely branching bryozoa hung off the railings and these eventually made room for plants, anemones, sponges and the life that can be seen today. Attentive observers would have noticed that many organisms were removed at the rate that the paint began to peel, and that the successive waves of settlers repeated themselves many times.
Eventually the master plan became visible: seaweeds on the sun-lit surfaces
and animal life on the dark surfaces. The bowsprit is still being fought
over because shaded sides and sunlit sides join, and animal life benefits
substantially from being out in the open where an unstoppable convoy of
planktonic food passes by. Note that animals can blanket the steel better
than plants.
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Because of its many 'caves', the wreck soon attracted nocturnal fish
in search for a place to sleep. The most numerous of these are the bigeyes
and slender roughies. Normally one can find them side by side in dark holes,
but on the Warrior they strangely segregated: the more numerous bigeyes
in the rear cabins and the slender roughies in the forecastle. By night
these little fish swim in the open around the wreck and it is miraculous
that they find their way home before dawn.
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As the life on the wreck became more dense, it could maintain local
predators like moray eels and scorpionfish.
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It appears that the small wreck could provide sufficient food for those
organisms that can adapt their diets, the 'catholic' feeders of 'food switchers',
such as leatherjackets.
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The wreck also attracted 'hotel guests', visitors from the sand flats,
looking for a place to sleep. One of these is the john dory (Zeus faber).
It is amazing how these fish can find their way back home from their fossicking
journeys far away (see night dive below).
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We finally must not lose sight of the fact that a number of reef organisms did not establish themselves on the artificial reef:
| Diving
The Rainbow Warrior shipwreck can be reached only by boat, either by small boats from Matauri Bay where one can camp, or by charter boats departing from Paihia in the Bay of Islands. It is a long trip from there, reason why the second dive is made somewhere on the return trip. |
Although the marine life here is reasonably robust, you have to watch out not to kick it or to accidentally be pushed into it by the current.
In any case, a dive on the Warrior usually consists of descending from the surface buoy down the heavy anchor chain to about 15m depth. Often the wreck is not visible when visibility is poor, and one needs to swim a magnetic east course to see the hull loom up out of the green void. From here the swim is often a round tour from the stern to the bow and back. On the return, a safety stop is done off the anchor chain.
The currents are usually mild, enough to foster rich marine life but
insufficient to worry divers. However, it can sometimes be a nuisance,
particularly at the surface. Visibility is usually poor in spring (Sep-Dec)
but improves during summer and autumn (Jan-May). Water temperatures are
highest in Feb-Mar. It is not advisable to dive in a short wetsuit or a
long suit thinner than 3mm, even in summer.
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Night diving
The Warrior makes a beautiful night dive with all its colours and variety
but be aware that all dangers amplify. One can easily become disorientated,
lose sight of safe bottom time, fail to find the chain, and so on. Ascending
safely in open water, in the dark is just not easy. The charter boat which
is moored to the buoy, can not easily pick you up either. So take extra
care.
Jewel anemones (Corynactis haddoni) occur in a wide variety of colour. During the day they look like colourful crowns squatting on the substrate with no room to spare. But only this magenta variety extends itself by night, sometimes to finger-height. On wrecks it colonises and grows around railings as seen here. For more jewel anemones , click here in our selected images. |
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On the map above we've marked two alternative dive sites, definitely our favourites. The most important one lies just north of the Warrior in the shelter (south) of Horonui Island. This is an ideal spot for your second shallow dive, as it has an interesting terrain with narrow canyons hugging the island and gradually sloping shallows with lots of tame fish. It is also a very good nightdive.
The second spot is Truelove Reef on the exposed side (north)
of Horonui Island, of which two pinnacles poke above the surface. This
reef descends to 27m with the most spectacular schools of demoiselle and
blue maomao. Deeper down the variety of life remains impressive. Although
you can go deep, it is a safe dive because you can spend time decompressing
in the shallows, while still observing an abundance of life all around.
Note that the swell can be prohibitive.
 This
drawing of the Rainbow Warrior shows its basic shape with a deck over the
forecastle (above the peace dove) and rear cabins. The main deck in front
of the steering house and alongside the cabins is bordered by solid railings.
At the time of writing, the steering house has disappeared and also the
funnel and its surrounds. So the engine room can be seen (and dived into)
from above. The site of the first bomb is now under the sand but the two
holds can still be accessed from hatches above. Wherever there are rooms
with side-ways (rather than top-down) access, one can find large numbers
of nocturnal bigeyes and slender roughies. The latter species appears to
have commandeered the forecastle (with side-way entrance). The second bomb
did not explode on this side of the ship but on the other side, to the
rear where the ship is strongest. It invited carpet sponges. |
| Location
It was not easy to find a suitable location for scuttling the Rainbow Warrior for it had to be a place remote from any reefs, because scientists thought that the wreck would affect the environment in a bad way (which proved to be nonsense). It had to be in a sheltered place so that northerly storms would not wreck it too soon while scattering steel plates everywhere. It had to be shallow enough for safe diving, yet deep enough to be out of reach for most waves and for navigation. And perhaps it could be located in a slight current that would greatly benefit marine life. |
Although a large buoy was placed at the stern (rear) of the wreck, it
mysteriously disappeared at times. Some say that it was done to force divers
to join charter trips; others say that storms did it. In any case, it was
later replaced and is now considered an important safety item. The buoy
has a long chain which connects to a large concrete block at the bottom,
located a few metres from the stern. Divers can easily locate both the
ship from the buoy at the beginning of their dives, and the buoy from the
ship on their return.
Visual bearings to nearby islands. The buoy and chain have been replaced. |
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though the buoy can be seen from some distance, it pays to also know how
to locate it from local visual bearings. The easiest of these runs almost
due east (magnetic), just 'joining' Hamaruru Island in the foreground with
Haraweka in the distance. The other bearing runs almost due north (magnetic)
such that a small pinnacle in front of Motutapere Island just begins to
separate from it. The chart shows the buoy on the wrong side of the wreck
and locates the wreck at 34º58.50' S, 173º56.10' E . The actual
GPS co-ordinates are: 34º58.60'S 173º58.14'E. (Click the chart
for a larger version, 400KB)
The wreckage is scattered to the south (starboard) of the wreck which leaves its shallower side to the north free for anchoring. When anchoring here make sure to drop the anchor some 20-30m away from the wreck so that the chain will not touch it. Swim in a magnetic S direction towards the ship and make a mental picture of where this is relative to the railings and super structure. On the return one may not see the anchor warp from the wreck, so swim back from the point of arrival in a magnetic N direction. |
Distant view of the Cavalli Islands from the monument. The Rainbow Warrior lies on left behind the Kaitirehe rock in the middle. The leftmost island is Horonui; the conical peak is Motutapere, the main island on right Motukawanui. |
| Photos
For the underwater photographer the Rainbow Warrior shipwreck offers many opportunities, depending on the conditions. If the water is murky, the sky overcast and a swell running, one's chances become slim as wide angle photography demands clear water and bright sunshine, whereas macro photography requires a tranquil sea. The photos shown here give you an idea of what is possible. |
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| Further reading
All references are available from the National Library of New Zealand, and those in blue are available from the Seafriends Library |
Death of the Rainbow Warrior Michael King, Auckland : Penguin
, 1986
Eyes of fire, the last voyage of the Rainbow
Warrior. 1986. Robie, David
Rainbow Warrior : battle for the planet : an extraordinary adventure
Jill
Morris Tells of the birth and work of the Greenpeace Foundation and, especially,
the Rainbow Warrior ship, in the fight to save the world's… Norwood,
S. Aust. : Omnibus Books , 1998
Rainbow Warrior : the French attempt to sink Greenpeace
Sunday Times of London Insight Team London : Hutchinson , 1986
Sabotage! : the diary of Rowan Webb, Auckland, 1985 Sharon Holt
The
Rainbow Warrior was the flag ship of the Greenpeace movement, when it was
sunk by agents of the French Foreign Intelligence, while…
Auckland [N.Z.] : Scholastic , 2008
Sink the Rainbow! : an inquiry into the
"Greenpeace Affair" John Dyson, Joseph Fitchett Auckland, N.Z. : Reed Methuen
, 1986
Ten minutes to midnight Colin Lloyd Amery An account
of the Rainbow Warrior affair and its aftermath. Auckland [N.Z.]
: Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop , 1989
The Rainbow Warrior affair Isobelle Gidley,
Richard Shears Sydney : Unwin Paperbacks , 1985
The Rainbow Warrior Affair. Diary compiled by Mike Andrews (Secretary of the Dargaville Maritime Museum) replicated here for ease of reference and safekeeping
When a warrior dies A documentary about the making of the kohatu stone memorial designed by Chris Booth. (Valhalla 1992, 50 minutes, English, no subtitles) Directed by Michael Hardcastle. Available on DVD.
The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior (1993/2004): a documentary with actors Sam Neill, Jon Voight, Tony Barry, Bruno Lawrence, Kerry Fox, John Callen, available on DVD.
The Dargaville Maritime Museum has a scale model of the Rainbow Warrior and the masts and other memorabilia. Worth visiting. Harding Park (South of Dargaville) Tel: +64 9 439 7555. 9 am to 4 pm daily