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After 30 years sailing around the globe for environmental protection with Greenpeace, ship captain under piracy investigation in Russia

by Cassady Craighill

September 26, 2013

Peter Willcox, captain on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.

© Greenpeace / Unknown

After attempting a peaceful protest to save the Arctic against oil drilling by Russian oil company Gazprom, Greenpeace activists were met with aggressive Russian authorities who seized the ship, the Arctic Sunrise, and 30 international activists. A Russian criminal court judge detained the activists on September 26th for two months during a pending piracy investigation.

Peter Willcox, captain on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.

Peter Willcox, captain on the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.

Captain Peter Willcox, and American, was among the sentenced activists. A 30-year Greenpeace veteran, Willcox has sailed all around the world from the Gulf of Mexico investigated the BP spill to the Russian Arctic. Willcox was also a skipper of the originalRainbow Warrior when French agents blew it up in 1985.

Find out more about Willcox and watch footage of him below during his various ship tours.

Touring the Gulf:

Discussing sustainable fishing:

Captain Peter Willcox in Greenland

Cassady Craighill

By Cassady Craighill

Cassady is a media officer for Greenpeace USA based on the East Coast. She covers climate change and energy, particularly how both issues relate to the Trump administration.

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