In harm's way.

It's 15th September, 1971.

A small group set sail for Amchitka Island off Alaska in an old fishing boat to stop a US nuclear weapons test.

They are an eclectic group of ecologists, journalists, pacifists, hippies, and a Vietnam draft dodger.

Over coffee some weeks earlier, the Vancouver based "Don't Make a Wave Committee" had come up with the wild idea. But they needed some funding to pull it off.

Leaving that meeting, one of the group flashed his customary peace sign and said "Peace". An ecologist friend remarked, "make it green peace". When those words didn't fit onto a button for the group's first fundraiser, they were simply merged:

Green Peace became Greenpeace.

Another member of the group came up with the idea of a rock concert. So they made a few phone calls. Joni Mitchell agreed to play and offered to bring a friend along too, James Taylor. None of the musicians wanted any money for the night. All sixteen thousand tickets were soon sold out. The mission was on.

Despite its bold intentions the voyage was a complete disaster.

Internal tensions flared during the ocean passage which took them in all directions, but crucially nowhere near their intended destination. Richard Nixon added further complication when he announced a month's delay to the nuclear test. Their fishing boat, the Phyllis Cormack, was intercepted by the US Navy and they returned to port deeply frustrated; opportunity lost.

However, they were greeted as heroes. Their voyage had sparked a flurry of public interest. And the media had gone wild about the small group of activists who had sailed off in the face of great adversity.

A nuclear bomb was tested on Amchitka a few weeks later. But further tests planned beyond that were cancelled. Later, the island was declared a bird sanctuary.

Bob Hunter, Greenpeace's fearless co-founder, summarised this initial foray best:

"As it turned out, all my angst was unnecessary. Time has proven my post-trip despair to be utterly mistaken. The trip was a success beyond anybody's wildest dreams."

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All the best from the South West.