Rainbow Warrior

RAINBOW WARRIOR: ANNIVERSARY EVENT AT MATAURI BAY
Day of the bomb

A ceremony will be held at Matauri Bay on the morning of July 10, marking the 20th anniversary of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior by French secret agents, in Auckland, in 1985.
Greenpeace's current vessel, Rainbow Warrior II, which has spent the past two weeks out on the high seas highlighting the impact of deep sea destruction fishing, will sail into Matauri Bay, accompanied by boats and crew from the campaign flotilla.  The commemoration will start on the water at about 9am.
The crew, former staff, current staff and invited dignitaries will be at Matauri Bay, where a  powhiri, speeches and prayers will take place, in memory of the bombing, which killed Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira.
Among those present will be Parliamentarian Dover Samuels, who drove the campaign to see the damaged Rainbow Warrior scuttled in Northland. Mr Samuels negotiated for two years with Greenpeace officials and licensing authorities before the ship finally came to rest in Northland waters in 1987.
Opponents saw it as pollution of the sea bottom and went as far as seeking an injunction.
The Matauri Bay Rainbow Warrior site is now a recognised diving destination and  a thriving habitat for marine life, including some rare species. Thousands of divers have come to Matauri Bay from all over the world since 1987. A French television documentary is currently in production.
Dover Samuels said this week, "Looking back at some of the antics of those who challenged the project and considering the transformation and growth of marine life at the site, I challenge them to come back and view it. The Rainbow Warrior became the first in a chain of wrecks used as artificial reefs, the most recent being one proposed for Wellington. I expect the July 10 ceremony will be  a memorable and moving experience, reminding us of our nuclear free policies."
Dover paid tribute to the "ever vigilant Chris Booth memorial" mounted on the hill at Matauri Bay, overlooking Motutapere Island where the Rainbow Warrior rests on the sea bed.
On July 10, three divers, including Peter Willcox - skipper of the Rainbow Warrior on the night she was bombed - will take a wreath and an underwater memorial down to the wreck. 
This will be the first time Peter Willcox has dived the Rainbow Warrior wreck.
The message given by Greenpeace officials, at the sinking in 1987, was: "It is not the end it is the beginning." Greenpeace's Washington based international director at the time Steve Sawyer said, "We will be back in the Pacific in a new ship..." The Bay Chronicle