The Golden Rule project nearing completion; still needs our support

Dear Friends,

Back in 2011 I wrote about a project by members of Veterans for Peace to restore The Golden Rule, a 30-foot ketch that once was sailed by a retired Navy Captain and crew towards the US Government's atmospheric test site in the Marshall Islands in an effort to stop nuclear weapons tests.

This is a monumental task, as well as an important one. Members of VFP Chapter 22 in Garberville, California have been working on the restoration of The Golden Rule since 2010. Once completed, The Golden Rule will sail the seas once again in opposition to militarism and the threat of nuclear weapons.

Golden Rule about to set sail for the Marshall Islands in 1958

Although this restoration project is being undertaken by a volunteer crew it is still costly. The boat was in sad (major understatement) shape when the restoration began, and has required replacement of a majority of its wood, rigging, and just about everything else you might imagine.

I invite you to support The Golden Rule project in any way you are able. They need approximately $30,000 to complete the job so that the boat can be launched this July 4th. Spread the word; share this with everyone you know. The Website for the project is at vfpgoldenruleproject.org, and they are on Facebook (VFP Golden Rule Project).

Golden Rule in 2010 before the start of restoration

I've included a personal update (see below) on the project from Chuck DeWitt, the Restoration Coordinator for The Golden Rule Project.  It gives a great perspective on just how far this project has come, and what it will take to get it done.

Fair winds and following seas,

Leonard

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To All:::::::::

While I took most of the month off, Breckin, Mike and Daisy reorganized the shop. Daisy has cataloged the rigging and is collecting all the hardware and sketching sails. Breckin has among other things built shelves for each worker so that notes and tools can be kept separate. Mike is continuing to work on the Trinidad Skiffs. One is finished and on display at the North Coast Horticulture Supply store in McKinleyville where the public can buy raffle tickets for the drawing to be held just before Christmas. Large posters are also on display at all the other NCH stores in the Humboldt Bay area and tickets are available there also.

Dean Anderson is almost finished sanding the fiberglass we put on last month. one more coat of resin needs to be applied and then we can begin fairing in preparation for painting on the cabin and decks.

September 2013 - A significant milestone!

Bill Eastwood and Breckin are drawing the outlines for the bunks and lockers in the forward cabin. Actual construction will probably start this week. Although our financial situation is bad we are still finding things that need to be done that are very cost effective.

Becky Luning from Portland Or. has agreed to work with Peter Aronson to get our financial records onto a new program. Skip Oliver from Ohio is exploring various ideas that can possibly bring in much needed support. Skip, incidentally has already done much back there in Ohio to help the project, letters with checks keep arriving from folks that only Skip knows, good on you sir.

Mark Dubrow, who is currently in L.A. and won't be back to Humboldt until January some time has offered to help with constructing the closets, bunks and seats inside the cabin. Mark teaches wood working skills at the Blue Ox, to teenagers that have difficulty in regular class room situations.

Janet Wood, Peter Aronson and Brian Ormand are working together to make some changes to the web site, add some pictures and mostly get our Pay Pal account in order. There are meetings scheduled this week to get our governance process streamlined so that we'll be able to receive grants. Our projected launch date of July 2014 is still doable but only if we can come up with about $30,000.00 real soon.

In case I failed to mention it last month, Bill Eastwood and Bud Rogers are conspiring to build the folding table that will stand in the main cabin. Bills drawings are flawless and Bud is a retired cabinet maker that now days makes fine musical instruments. Their combined efforts, will produce a beautiful table for The Golden Rule, a stunning show piece right in the middle of the living area.

We've had many visitors in the last month or so. Brian Willson was here from Portland Or. as was Elliot Adams of New York, Elliot is representing us at Veterans for Peace National. Sherri Maurin from San Francisco has offered to help us connect with the GreenPeace organization, she was here with Elliot Adams. Other people visiting Humboldt for the holidays have come by to take pictures and ask questions. We are slowly becoming known, every one agrees that our mission is necessary.

Sincerely submitted by Chuck DeWitt. Restoration Coordinator Golden Rule Project. Wage Peace.

PS: Sorry I have not kept up very well. These reports are published on our Facebook page regularly. I'm dealing with medical problems with my wife and myself, so am slowing down some. Wage Peace, Fredy Champagne

Sailing into the New Year with The Golden Rule

Friends,

At the recent trial of the Disarm Now Plowshares activists a retired U.S. Navy Captain who had commanded nuclear submarines during the Cold War testified on behalf of the Plowshares activists. Tom Rogers long journey had brought him to an understanding of the need to abolish these horrible weapons of mass destruction, that the government was not paying attention to people's "legal" means of free speech, and that the Plowshares activists' methods were justified.

In 1958 another retired U.S. Navy Captain embarked on his own journey of conscience and civil resistance when he and his peacemaking crew sailed the 30-foot ketch the Golden Rule toward the U.S. government's atmospheric test site in the Marshall Islands in an attempt to stop nuclear weapons testing despite government prohibitions and a court injunction. They were arrested, tried, convicted and put on probation, and undaunted, set sail a second time. This time the government decided to put Albert Bigelow behind bars.

Bigelow was not acting on a whim. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima horrified him, and in the postwar years he took a number of steps on his peacemaking journey. Among them, according to historian Lawrence Wittner, "working with the American Friends Service Committee, Bigelow sought to deliver a petition against nuclear testing to the White House, but was rebuffed by U.S. government officials." Bigelow made every effort to get the government to listen, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Bigelow said of his nautical actions: “In the face of the threats that nuclear warfare preparations put to all mankind, it is my duty, as a man and as an American citizen, to voice both my protest against these preparations and my pleas for a constructive policy instead. If I remain silent, how am I to answer later, should some high court ask: '…and what, knowing these things to be wrong, were you, a free, responsible citizen of a democracy doing to prevent them?'” (Source: The Voyage of the Golden Rule)

The Golden Rule suffered years of decay in a shipyard after being raised off the sea floor near Eureka, California, and its fate seemed sealed until two Northern California chapters of Veterans for Peace (VFP) established The Golden Rule project. VFP volunteers have been restoring the ketch, and hope to complete the restoration by July 2011. They still have a long way to go to reach their fundraising goal of $50,000 needed to complete the project.

The Golden Rule is an important piece of history of the nuclear abolition movement, and it is somewhat of a miracle that it has been (literally) raised from the deep to have a second life sailing the West Coast "in opposition to militarism and the use of nuclear weapons." It is my hope that the nuclear abolition community will come together in support of The Golden Rule Project.

Many thanks to Historian Lawrence Wittner for keeping The Golden Rule on our radar.

Peace,

Leonard

You can learn all about the Golden Rule Project (and contribute toward its completion) at http://www.heritech.com/goldenrule, or by contacting Fredy Champagne at fchampagne@asis.com, or by writing to Veterans for Peace, P.O. Box 5097, Eureka, CA 95502-5097.

Read The "Golden Rule" Will Sail Again, by Lawrence Wittner, December 21,2010, at the Huffington Post

Read The Long Voyage: The Golden Rule and Resistance to Nuclear Testing in Asia and the Pacific, by Lawrence S. Whittner