MV Greenpeace

The MV Greenpeace (formerly (1959–1977) and since 2002 known as the Elbe) was a Greenpeace ship built in 1959 as an oceangoing tug/salvage vessel. She was purchased by Greenpeace in 1985 from the Maryland Pilotage Company, the vessel then being named MV Maryland, and transferred back to the Netherlands to be refitted with modern equipment before being recommissioned. (She took over from the first Rainbow Warrior, which had been sunk in 1985 by French commandos. In 2001 she was replaced by the MV Esperanza.

Career

During her 15 years of service with Greenpeace, the MV or Black Pig as she was known by her crew, circumnavigated the globe several times, participating in numerous campaigns. Her first deployment was as part of the "World Park Antarctica" campaign but following the sinking of the Warrior, she was diverted en route from Europe to New Zealand via the Panama canal, to first participate as part of a peace convoy protesting against French Nuclear Testing at Moruroa Atoll, before continuing to carry on with the Antarctica campaign as planned]. The next decade and a half saw her involved in Greenpeace campaigns around the world, from the Persian Gulf to the Antarctic.