Wilmington News Journal
Audrey Ingram, Contributing Writer
On Aug. 27, 2010, life was proceeding as usual in Wilmington, Ohio. However, 2,500 miles away, in the small coastal town of Eureka, Cal., the remains of a ship called the Golden Rule were found.
In 1958, this ketch was the first ship to sail against nuclear testing. This was the same ship that inspired Earle and Barbara Reynolds of the Phoenix of Hiroshima to sail into the banned testing zone. Reynolds went on to found the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College.
“Quaker pacifists out of the Hudson Valley in New York decided to protest nuclear testing,” said Fredy Champagne, campaign coordinator for the restoration of the Golden Rule. The four men, Orion W. Sherwood, William R. Huntington, George Willoughby and captain Albert S. Bigelow sailed into the testing area near the Marshall Islands. On two occasions they sailed into the no-sail zone. They were boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard, arrested, towed back to Honolulu and placed on trial. Read more…