Altair (ship, 1974)

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Altair p1
Ship data
flag NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands
Ship type former pilot cutter
class Spica class
Callsign PCOF
home port Scheveningen
Shipyard Amels Holland, Makkum
Build number 327
Launch 1974
Ship dimensions and crew
length
59.00 m ( Lüa )
54.00 m ( Lpp )
width 10.69 m
Side height 5.70 m
Draft Max. 3.83 m
displacement 1000
measurement 867.43 GRT / 236.26 NRT
Others
Registration
numbers 		IMO no. 8880195

The Altair was one of the environmental protection - NPO Greenpeace in 1995 chartered former pilot cutter of Dutch Pilotage Organization Netherlands Loodswezen . During her time at Greenpeace she had two sensational missions in the North Sea and the Mediterranean .

Greenpeace actions

Brent Spar

Since Greenpeace urgently needed another ship for use in the North Sea in the spring of 1995, the Altair was chartered for the summer months. After being retired as a pilot boat, she was converted into a private yacht . With the appropriate equipment and the rainbow paint from Greenpeace, the Altair drove to the sea area between Norway and the Shetland Islands . On May 30, 1995, four Greenpeace activists from Altair occupied the tank and loading platform Brent Spar of the oil company Royal Dutch Shell anchored there in order to prevent Shell from sinking the platform in the Atlantic , which had become redundant due to the opening of pipelines to dispose of them on land, which Greenpeace thought was more environmentally friendly. The cast received a lot of media coverage , especially in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany . After a long media war, Shell decided on June 20, 1995 to dispose of the platform - which had already been towed by tugs towards its intended dump site in the North Atlantic - on land. On July 7, Shell received approval from the Norwegian government to mothball the platform in the Erfjord, a branch of the Boknafjord near Stavanger , until it was finally disposed of and scrapped . The Altair , which had already accompanied the tow, followed the Brent Spar to Norway and then drove to the Mediterranean.

Brindisi

In the Mediterranean, the ship was supposed to carry out media-effective protest actions on a tour through various ports against the nuclear weapon tests of the People's Republic of China and France in the Pacific and against other environmentally harmful practices. The tour started on August 4th in Barcelona and should also touch Turkey , Israel , Cyprus , Lebanon , Greece , Italy , Tunisia , Malta and France by mid-November .

On October 25, 1995 the Altair entered the port of Brindisi in southern Italy with four rubber dinghies , where they wanted to prevent the French frigate Dupleix from sailing. While some of the Greenpeace people sprayed the slogan "Stop Nuclear Tests" on the side of the Dupleix , the Altair and the rubber boats tried to cut off the frigate's path. The captain then had the dinghies and crew of the Altair fired at with fire-fighting water cannons. Targeted water cannons into the Altair's chimney were intended to flood the Altair's engine room and put its engine out of operation. A boarding party of Dupleix boarded the Altair , where the windows of the bridge smashed with axes and the bridge crew through the use of tear gas forced to flee from the ship. Then the command put the engine of the Altair in reverse and then left the now pilotless ship, which then scraped along the pier . A meter-long hole was torn in the ship's side. An Altair marine engineer finally managed to stop the machine.

The incident caused a considerable stir in Italy, had legal consequences in Italy, and led to diplomatic entanglements between Italy, France and the Netherlands (under whose flag the ship sailed). On the same evening, the Italian Foreign Ministry ordered the French Chargé d'affaires to explain the "unpleasant incident". The Italian, German and European Parliaments also dealt with the incident.

return

In autumn 1995, after the charter expired, the ship was returned to its owner.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Before loodsboot Altair , Koopvaardij.
  2. ↑ a b c d e MV Altair technical specifications ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Greenpeace.
  3. ^ Previous Greenpeace Ships ( Memento of March 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Greenpeace.
  4. ^ Protests against Shell are spreading , Die Welt , June 21, 1995. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  5. ^ Greenpeace protest Chinese nuclear tests in the front of Istanbul mission ( Memento of 23 May 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Greenpeace, 19 August 1995.
  6. ↑ Altair to Tour Med Against French Testing ( memento of July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), Greenpeace, August 4, 1995.
  7. ^ French board protest ship in Brindisi , The Independent, October 26, 1995 (accessed October 12, 2011).
  8. ^ France Boards Greenpeace protest vessel in Italian territorial waters ( Memento of December 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Greenpeace, October 25, 1995.
  9. ↑ Selvaggi Alberto: Battaglia verde a Brindisi ( Memento of November 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Corriere della Sera, October 26, 1995, p. 7.
  10. ↑ Abbordaggio verde battaglia nel porto , La Repubblica, October 26, 1995 (accessed October 12, 2011).
  11. ^ A b Christian Lionet: La Royale bombée à Brindisi, Greenpeace touché , Liberation, October 27, 1995 (accessed October 12, 2011).
  12. ^ Riot on the Altair ( Memento from December 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Greenpeace magazine, October 25, 1995.
  13. ↑ Selvaggi Alberto: L'assalto di Brindisi: tutti puniti ( Memento of October 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Corriere della Sera, December 29, 1995, p. 9.
  14. ↑ Nederland wil uitleg over enteren schip Greenpeace ( memento of September 14, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), Volkskrant, October 27, 1995.
  15. ↑ Frankrijk oversees incident tegen schip Greenpeace , Trouw, October 27, 1995 (accessed October 12, 2011).
  16. ^ Minutes of the meeting of the Italian Senate, March 30, 1997, pp. 17ff. (accessed on October 12, 2011; PDF; 113 kB).
  17. ^ French attacks on a ship by Dutch environmentalists in the Italian port of Brindisi , European Parliament, Parliamentary Questions, November 15, 1995. Accessed April 8, 2018.
  18. Jump up ↑ Damage to a Greenpeace ship in the port of Brindisi , Minor question from MP Christian Sterzing and the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group, German Bundestag, printed matter 13/3786 of February 9, 1996 (accessed on October 12, 2011).