Golden Rule: First Environmental Action Peace Vessel

GoldenRule Huntingon, Bigelow, Sherwood, Willough 1958

The Golden Rule is the first environmental action and peace vessel to put to sea. She is the direct precursor of all the peace and justice vessels that followed in her wake. Now, after a 5 year restoration, she’s sailing again to promote a nuclear-free world and a sustainable environment.

In 1958, the Golden Rule, a 30-foot ketch and its crew Capt. Albert S. Bigelow, William Huntington, Orion Sherwood and George Willoughby ignited the international movement to stop the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons; they attempted to sail into a nuclear-bomb test zone in the Marshall Islands. She was boarded by the US Coast Guard off Hawaii and her crew arrested. In Honolulu the crew was jailed, tried, and convicted.

The example set by the Golden Rule and her crew was also the inspiration for subsequent environmental and peace voyagers and craft that followed in her wake including the Phoenix of Hiroshima, and later Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds.

In 1950’s, Earle Reynolds had been sent to Hiroshima by the US government after World War II to study the effects of nuclear fallout on the growth and development of surviving Japanese children. He was deeply affected by the experience. The horrors of nuclear war were issues close to the heart of the Reynolds. During his stay in Japan he had the Phoenix of Hiroshima, a 50-foot Colin Archer-style ketch build. In 1958 she became the next boat to carry the mission forward. When Earle Reynolds arrived in Honolulu he docked near the Golden Rule and heard about the crew’s arrest. He attended the trial of the crew and upon meeting Bigelow and crew was impress enough to take up the cause and the Phoenix did sail and successfully enter the test zone in protest.

0807 The Journey of the Golden Rule Veteans For Peace—Veterans Speaker Alliance

08/06 Golden Rule Peace Boat Arrives in San Diego North Coast News

08/04 Historic Protest Boat Arrives In San Diego For Pro-Peace Veterans’ Convention Helen Jaccard

08/03 Golden Rule Arrives in San Diego Press Release Veterans For Peace National

08/03 Peace Ship Arrives in San Diego OB Rag Ocean Beach, California

08/02 Golden Rule Peace Boat Arrives in San Diego CBS 8 San Diego

07/20 Follow Golden Rule As She Sails to San Diego Veterans For Peace National

07/26 Nuclear Abolition Boat Sails Again! Womens’ International League For Peace & Freedom

06/20 Golden Rule Splashes Into Humboldt Bay—A Huge Success! Helen Jaccard