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Peter Willcox (born March 6, 1953) is an American
sea captain A sea captain, ship's captain, captain, master, or shipmaster, is a high-grade licensed mariner who holds ultimate command and responsibility of a merchant vessel.Aragon and Messner, 2001, p.3. The captain is responsible for the safe and efficie ...
best known for his activism with the environmental organization
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
. He was on board as captain of the '' Rainbow Warrior'' when it was bombed and sunk by the DGSE (French intelligence service) in New Zealand in 1985. In 2013, he was aboard the MV ''Arctic Sunrise'' when the Russian military boarded it and arrested him and 30 other activists in what became known as the "
Arctic 30 The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
." He was detained for two months before being released. In 2014, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from '' The Guardian'' for his environmental activism.


Early years

Willcox was born to Eleanor Sharpe of
Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock. History Chart ...
. Sharpe, a member of the U.S Ski team at the time, was unmarried and gave the baby up for adoption at the urging of her family. Willcox was adopted by Roger and Elsie Willcox of South Norwalk, Connecticut. He was raised in Village Creek. Willcox's parents were both politically active. Roger, a community organizer specializing in co-ops, was a sailor. Elsie, who died in 1973, was a middle school science teacher in Norwalk and founded an environmental club in the late 1960s. Both his mother and grandparents, Henry and Anita Willcox, were subpoenaed to testify before the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
, and their careers were ruined as a result. Elise, fearful that a subpoena would endanger her chances of adopting another child, took Peter and his brother Michael underground for three months in 1956. After the adoption papers were finalized, they returned to Norwalk, where she did receive a subpoena to testify. Willcox was taken to many civil rights demonstrations as a child. These culminated in 1965, when Willcox and his father attended the last day of the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights march. The event crystallized his view that non-violent demonstrations or actions can be useful tools for social change. Willcox attended
North Country School North Country School (also called NCS) is an independent junior boarding and day school for boys and girls in grades four through nine. Its 220-acre campus is located in Lake Placid, NY in the High Peaks Region of the 6 million acre Adirondack ...
, and later The Putney School in Vermont.


Clearwater

During his senior year at The Putney School, Willcox received the number one position in the 1972 draft lottery. He applied for and received
conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
status. Thanks to the work of Bill Siebert, the previous first mate, the
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Beacon, New York that seeks to protect the Hudson River and surrounding wetlands and waterways through advocacy and public education. Founded by folk singer Pete Seege ...
was approved by a Federal Judge to be acceptable work for conscientious objectors. Although President Nixon declared the Vietnam War as over in February 1973, and the draft over, Willcox joined Clearwater. He spent the 1973 season as 2nd and 1st mate, and came back in 1976 as captain. While at Clearwater, Willcox met
Pete Pete or Petes or ''variation'', may refer to: People * Pete (given name) * Pete (nickname) * Pete (surname) Fictional characters * Pete (Disney), a cartoon character in the ''Mickey Mouse'' universe * Pete the Pup (a.k.a. 'Petey'), a character ...
and Toshi Seeger and saw them as inspirations for activism.


Greenpeace

After spending a year doing humpback whale research on an old square rigger, Willcox saw an ad for mates and engineers on the newly-arrived
Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
ship, the '' Rainbow Warrior''. Given a spot as a possible deckhand, he was promoted to First Mate on his first day. Four months later, when the British captain left the ship to return to his family, he became the skipper. On July 10, 1985, as the ''Rainbow Warrior'' was at Auckland Harbour preparing to sail in protest French nuclear testing, it was bombed by French intelligence agents and sunk. The incident, which killed freelance photographer Fernando Pereira, caused an international scandal. On September 19, 2013, he was arrested off Russian waters for participating in another Greenpeace campaign.


Notable Greenpeace campaigns

1981
Offshore Oil drilling on Georges Bank. 1982:
Stopping National Lead Industries from dumping a million gallons of sulfuric acid off the New Jersey beaches every day. Seal killing in Canada. Dolphin killing as part of the tuna industry in the Pacific. Whaling campaign in Peru. 1983 Seismic surveying off the coast of California. Driftnet fishing in North Pacific. Whaling by Russia in
Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...
. 1985 Relocating the village of Rongalap in the Marshall Islands who were victims of the U.S. Atomic Testing program. ''Rainbow Warrior'' was blown up in Auckland by French military personnel, killing shipmate Fernando Pereira. Sailed on Vega IV to Mururoa atoll. 1987 Action with Danish Fisherman against Waste Management Services ship ''Vulcanos''. 1988 Action on USN destroyer bring nuclear weapons into Denmark. 1989 First trip on board the second ''Rainbow Warrior''. Tasman Sea action against drift netters. Scientific Testing at Mururoa. 1993 Exposed Russian dumping of nuclear waste in Sea of Japan. 1995 Sneak into Turkish power plant burning coal with banner. 2000 Return toxic waste to U.S. embassy in Manila. 2001 Soldertalje, Sweden action over burning toxic waste to generate electricity. 2003 (?) Guns for Logs in Italy, France, Spain and Netherlands. 2007
Research trip to Bering Sea with two one-man submarines. 2009 Research trip to Greenland to document global warming. 2013 Captains the ''Arctic Sunrise'' in an action against Russia's oil drilling platform in international waters in the Arctic. He and the crew are arrested and held in prison for two months before being granted amnesty. Demonstrations were held all over the world urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the Arctic 30. 2016 Peter captains the second ''Rainbow Warrior'' near Fukushima, Japan to monitor radiation levels being released into the environment by the damaged nuclear reactors.


Family life

Willcox was married in 1991, just in time for the birth of his first daughter, Anita. His second daughter, Natasha, was born in 1995. He was separated in 2002 and moved from Spain where he had been living back to
Norwalk, Connecticut , image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg , mapsize = 230px , map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...
. His daughters joined him in 2004. In 2013, he married Maggy Aston, whom he had met on the Clearwater in the late 1970s, on Islesboro island in Maine, where he now lives. He has a step-son named Skylar Purdy. He has nine brothers and sisters, either adopted, biological or step.


Sailing

Willcox grew up sailing. His father Roger was a multiple class national champion, who took his son big boat racing in the early 1960s. Roger continues to be a fair weather frostbite dingy sailor at age 94. Willcox raced for the America's Cup syndicate Freedom – Enterprise in 1979. He has done ten Bermuda Races, did eight S.O.R.C.s (Southern Ocean Racing Circuits) in the 1970s and is still active today. He currently races on a boat called Christopher Dragon out of New York. He estimates he has sailed over 400,000 miles in his professional and recreational career. He retired from Greenpeace in June 2019. He continues to race, ship out, and sail for a better planet.


Writing

Willcox's memoir ''Greenpeace Captain: My Adventures in Protecting the Future of Our Planet'' was released on April 18, 2016 in the United States and Canada by
St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...
. In Australia and New Zealand, the book was released by Random House Publishing.


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


2013 Audio Interview with Richard Fidler
*2015 Audio Interview on Soundcloud #016 Water is Wide *2016 Audio Interview on Soundcloud #139: Adventures in Protecting the Future of our Planet. {{DEFAULTSORT:Willcox, Peter People from Norwalk, Connecticut 1953 births Living people People associated with Greenpeace Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior Sea captains The Putney School alumni People from Islesboro, Maine