Did two boats change the world? From a certain point of view, yes.
After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Albert Bigelow, a Quaker serving in the US Navy resigned his post. He was one month from retirement and receiving a full pension. Bigelow later hosted two of the Hiroshima Maidens, women disfigured by the bomb who had traveled to the US to receive plastic surgery. He became more active with the Quakers and attempted to protest nuclear testing near Mercury, Nevada. Bigelow became the Skipper on the Golden Rule, which attempted to sail to the Marshall Islands to expose US nuclear testing there.
Earle and Barbara Reynolds had lived outside of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bombings. As an anthropologist, Earle worked for the Atomic Energy Commission, studying the effects of the bomb on the survivors, the Hibakusha. After 3 years, Earle retired and built the Phoenix of Hiroshima, a sailing yacht, with the intention of circumnavigating the globe. His crew included his family, and 3 men from Hiroshima, all of them Hibakusha. Wherever they made port, the true story of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was told. It was by accident that the Phoenix moored next to the Golden Rule one fateful day in Hawaii.
So the Golden Rule and the Phoenix of Hiroshima set out for the Marshall Islands, and while the Golden Rule and her crew were quickly detained, the Phoenix went on. The Reynolds began broadcasting what they saw once they reached the Pacific Proving Grounds, then were detained at Kwajalein Island.
This was vital to the peace and nuclear freeze movements. Information. Acts of courage. Inspiration.
By accident a third boat, the Lucky Dragon No. 5 strayed into the Pacific Proving Grounds. Radiation rained down on the Japanese crew from the enormous Castle Bravo Test. The secret was out, and Japanese people were dying of radiation again. The people were furious. 9 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese anti-nuclear weapons movement took off.
Barbara Reynolds returned to Hiroshima, her life turned over by divorce. She worked more and more with the Hibakusha, and went on to found the World Friendship Center, an organization working to promote international peace one friend at a time. Reynolds organized a World Peace Study Mission that took 2 dozen Hibakusha to the US to tell their stories and meet with the likes of Harry Truman, Malcolm X, and Robert Oppenheimer.
Reynolds left Hiroshima, and new directors took over. The World Peace Study Mission morphed into an annual program, the Peace Ambassador Exchange. In 2022 I presented to the World Friendship Center virtually about our work in Washington. In 2023, a four person delegation from Japan came to Seattle, including 2 Hibakusha. I arranged for them to speak to the Ploughshares Fund, who hosted their annual policy briefing in Seattle while the peace ambassadors were here. We also organized a standalone event with the Japanese American Citizens League to hear all the presenters. In 2024, I joined a four-person team from America to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Veterans for Peace restored the Golden Rule, which now sails around the world educating people about peace and nuclear disarmament. Upon returning to my home in Tacoma, I attended two events I had helped organize with the Veteran’s for Peace Golden Rule Project and sailed on the ship to Olympia the next day. Working with the Pacific Islander Community Association, the Golden Rule took 20 PI youth on short sailing trips and educated them on the history of nuclear testing in the Pacific. Afterwards, the Washington Marshallese Community Association, WPSR, WANW, Korea Peace Now, Tacoma Veterans for Peace, and Tahoma Pax Christi organized a celebratory event for the Golden Rule and her crew with food, music, dancing, and speeches. The crew and project managers shared some words. Captain Kiko thanked the Puyallup Tribe for putting him through boating school. Wilson Jimnta spoke with great pain about the effects the nuclear tests still have on his people and islands. Kristi Nebel read a proclamation from the mayor. I spoke about my time with the World Friendship Center. George Rodkey read a prayer for peace offered by Seattle Archbishop Ettienne. Goo Lee spoke about the history of nuclear violence in Korea, and presented me with a work from the artist Kim Bong-Jun. It reads “anti-nuke, anti-war, Washington Against Nuclear Weapons”. I ended with a call for action, and the next morning I sailed on the Golden Rule to Olympia.
We are a part of these currents of history. And yes, we are making waves.