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The Golden Rule off Diamond Head, Hawaii, April 1958

Since the Summer of 2010 the VFP Golden Rule Project has been devoted to the restoration of the famous sailing ketch, the Golden Rule.

That restoration effort is now (early 2013) almost complete. When she is seaworthy the Golden Rule will sail once again, taking its message of peace far and wide.

FOLLOW OUR PROGRESS HERE
or watch
SLIDE SHOW HERE

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF GOLDEN RULE
A vessel with a mission

In 1958, this little ship was sailed by four brave crewmen, led by Albert Bigelow, in an attempt to stop atmospheric nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands.  They were boarded by the US Coast Guard, arrested, and the boat towed back to Honolulu, twice.

Photos and drawing credits: The Albert Bigelow Papers, Swarthmore College Peace Collection and Hawaiian "Friends."

A TRIBUTE TO THE GOLDEN RULE CREW

There can be no greater honor than to carry on the legacy of the four very brave men who sailed the Golden Rule in 1958. In their challenge to nuclear weapons testing, these men set a very high bar for those future activists to follow in their footsteps. Our project to restore and sail the Golden Rule is in tribute to the memory of Albert S. Bigelow, captain, Orion W. Sherwood, William R. Huntington, and George Willoughby. We cannot let the story and record of men like these, and their deeds, pass from the memory of our younger generation of activists.   The Golden Rule will sail again in opposition to militarism. 

WHY THE GOLDEN RULE?

Lawrence S. Wittner, professor of history at  State University of New York/Albany, put it into context in his February 8^th, 2010 article entitled, "Preserving the Golden Rule," quoted here from the Huffington Post:

The Golden Rule is in danger. No, not the famed ethical code – though proponents of selfishness certainly have ignored it – but a thirty-foot sailboat of the same name that rose to prominence about half a century ago.

The remarkable story of the Golden Rule began in the late 1950s, as the world public grew increasingly concerned about preparations for nuclear war. In the United States, the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) was launched in November 1957, and polls showed rising uneasiness about the nuclear arms race – especially giant atmospheric nuclear weapons tests that spewed radioactive fallout around the globe.

Although SANE quickly became the largest peace organization in the United States, smaller groups, committed to civil disobedience, sprang up as well. One of them, Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, drew the participation of Albert Bigelow, a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II. With the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Bigelow had concluded that "morally, war is impossible," and a month before he became eligible for his pension, he resigned from the U.S. Navy reserve. Joining the Society of Friends, he plunged into the growing campaign of resistance to nuclear weapons.

In January 1958, Bigelow and three other pacifists wrote to President Dwight Eisenhower of their plan to sail the Golden Rule into the U.S. nuclear testing zone in the Pacific. "For years we have spoken and written of the suicidal military preparations of the Great Powers," they declared, "but our voices have been lost in the massive effort of those responsible for preparing this country for war. We mean to speak now with the weight of our whole lives." They hoped their act would "say to others: Speak Now."...

Read the whole article here: 

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Full Sized Poster (.PDF File)

FUNDING PROGRESS

$50,000.00 was raised during the first two years of the project to restore the Golden Rule. Restoration of the hull, the installation of a new engine, and completion of deck beams completed "Phase One." 

Now for Phase Two! which will hopefully bring us to the rigging and outfitting stage.