Founders

In fact, there was no single founder and the name, idea, spirit, tactics and internationalism of Greenpeace comes from many different sources.

The first committee

In 1970, the Don't Make A Wave Committee was established to stop a second nuclear weapons test at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.

The committee's founders and first members included:

•     Paul Cote, a law student at the University of British Columbia
•     Jim Bohlen, a former deep-sea diver and radar operator in the US Navy
•     Irving Stowe, a Quaker and Yale-educated lawyer
•     Patrick Moore, ecology student at the University of British Columbia
•     Bill Darnell, a social worker

Creating the Greenpeace name

Darnell came up with the dynamic combination of words to bind together the group's concern for the planet and opposition to nuclear arms.

In the words of journalist Bob Hunter: "Somebody flashed two fingers as we were leaving the church basement and said "peace". Bill said: "Let's make it a Green Peace.  And we all went Ommmmmmmm."  Jim Bohlen's son Paul, having trouble making the two words fit on a button, linked them together into the committee's new name: Greenpeace.

Bearing witness

Marie Bohlen was the first to suggest taking a ship up to Amchitka to oppose the US plans. The group organised a boat, the Phyllis Cormack, and set sail to Amchitka to "bear witness" (a Quaker tradition of silent protest) to the nuclear test. On board were:

• Captain John Cormack, the boat's owner
• Jim Bohlen, Greenpeace
• Bill Darnell, Greenpeace
• Patrick Moore, Greenpeace
• Dr Lyle Thurston, medical practitioner
• Dave Birmingham, engineer
• Terry Simmons, cultural geographer
• Richard Fineberg, political science teacher
• Robert Hunter, journalist
• Ben Metcalfe, journalist
• Bob Cummings, journalist
• Bob Keziere, photographer
  

Stowe, who suffered from sea sickness, stayed on shore to coordinate political pressure. Cote stayed behind too, because he was about to represent Canada in an Olympic sailing race.

Bob Hunter took the lessons of this first voyage forward to the point that he, more than anyone else, invented Greenpeace's brand of individual activism.

The Amchitka voyage established the group's name in Canada. Greenpeace's next journey spread their reputation across the world.

Journey into the bomb

In 1972, David McTaggart answered an ad placed in a New Zealand newspaper by Ben Metcalfe, calling for a ship to go to Morouroa Atoll to protest nuclear weapons testing there.  McTaggart's crew was:

• Nigel Ingram, ex-Royal Navy
• Roger Haddleton, ex-Royal Navy
• Grant Davidson, a good cook
  

Their ship was rammed, and on his return the next year McTaggart was beaten by French commandos to the point where he lost vision in one eye.  An epic battle played out in media around the world as a tiny ship challenged one of the greatest military forces on earth.

For the next two decades, McTaggart vied with the French government at sea and in the courts over nuclear weapons testing. He also rose to the lead Greenpeace worldwide.  

At a point when separatist Greenpeace national and regional entities were taking legal action against one another, the successful businessman and athlete stepped in and settled the arguments by founding Greenpeace International.

Tragically, McTaggart died in a car crash in Italy 23 March 2001.