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Posted 6/26/2013
This spectacular shot of the Golden Rule anchored under the cannon, off the coast of Providencia Island in the Caribbean, was sent by Floyd Boyle, a former Golden Rule crewmember.
Mr. Boyle said he was part of the crew that sailed GR thru Panama Canal and thru Caribbean to Ft Lauderdale, FL for owner Ed Rush in the early 70s.Posted 4/20/2013
FROM ANOTHER OF ALBERT BIGELOW'S GRANDDAUGHTERS,
FRANCIE. We are delighted to hear from her, thank her for her generous contribution, and are looking forward to seeing her at the launching!
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| Posted 6/26/2012
FROM ALBERT BIGELOW'S GRANDDAUGHTER From: Benton, Kate Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 4:00 PM Subject: a story about my grandfather Bert Bigelow Hello Mr. Champagne, My mother just sent us (the
grandchildren) the information about The Golden Rule Project. Just for fun I thought I’d
share this memory: In
the spring of 1989 (possibly 1990) – 31 or 32 years after the
Golden Rule set sail, my grandparents (we called them, Grampy and
Didi) came out to California to visit me and my husband, Jim. We
went to the Friends Meeting at the Quaker Meeting House on Orange
Grove Blvd. in Pasadena (now very close to where I live). A
kindly gentleman stood up, and said (I paraphrase) “I don’t
want to embarrass him, but I recognize him and cannot be silent.
Thirty years ago Albert Bigelow was in this very room attending a
Quaker meeting before setting sail on the Golden Rule and he is
here with us today”. There were lots of hearty handshakes all
around. Best
regards and thank you for your important work, Kate
Benton Doughan |
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Dear Fredy We may feel the hope of the Occupy Movement, but we cannot forget that we now have the largest military budget in the history of the world. And, when we have 8,500 nuclear weapons stock piled (each one of which is many times larger than the Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima and each of which is a threat to human life), our country is restarting the nuclear weapons development and manufacturing process. Yet, any level of reason or sanity, not to mention world treaties signed by 133 nations, demand that we be dissembling weapons not building them. And, all rational thinking says we should abolish war, for the good of mankind, for the good of our little blue planet. It is obvious this a time when we must increase our out reach and organizing against nuclear weapons and against war to save our country from her own suicidal tendencies. The Golden Rule will be a powerful out reach effort. She will be a curiosity where ever she is, many people are attracted to boats, her story is an inspiration to all of us, she will attracted local media attention and all of that will be used to deliver the message of peace and motivate people to work for peace. Until the Golden Rule Project started I had no idea of the potential outreach a boat could have. She will be able to sail and potentially reach every port on the West Coast, the Gulf Coast, and the East Coast. But there is also the Mississippi River system, which reaches North to Minnesota, East to Pennsylvania and Tennessee, West to Kansas and Oklahoma. And then there is the Hudson River connecting to all the ports in the Great Lakes. We live in a moment of time when we need to think of new ways to outreach with the message of peace, and that Golden rule fits that need. Let me know what I can do to support your work. Elliott DS Adams National President Veterans For Peace |
| Posted 1/12/2012
We have received the following interesting and informative letter from Nelson Camp, of the Camp Foundation, following a significant (and very much appreciated) contribution to the Golden Rule Project. Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Dear Fredy, ...For some background, the three sons of William (Bill) and Katherine (Kay) Camp received a small fund after their parents' deaths, set up to allow us to make contributions to causes that we care about. Bill and Kay themselves were passionate about sailing. Our mother taught our dad how to sail on their honeymoon, so sailing and caring for our sailboat was a major family activity that we all shared as we grew up. They were also passionate about the injustices of war, and the quest for peace in our times. Kay was our cub scout den mother, who gradually turned into a peace activist, becoming at one point US president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She was also a representative on the UN's Disarmament Committee for many years. In the aftermath of World War II, they had decided to become Quakers, because one of the testimonies of Quakers is to live your life in such a way as to render wars impossible. One of their sons spent two years in India serving in a rural health clinic, in a program sponsored by a quaker ‘peace corps,’ one son was a Conscientious Objector to the Viet Nam war, and one was among the first young Americans to visit China on a goodwill mission before the ice began to melt between the US and China. We had been raised under the specter of the Nuclear Arms Race, when fallout shelters were a craze, and countries tried to one-up the other countries by testing their nuclear weapons above ground, polluting the atmosphere. In the era when the polio vaccine was introduced, the big fear was Strontium 90 in our breakfast milk, and we thought that how much radiation one absorbed depended on which way the wind blew. We knew the fallout was bad for us, and we knew our government was trying to make us believe fallout shelters could actually protect us from it. We demonstrated for Nuclear Disarmament in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, and were called "Commie Pinko Fags." One of the Hiroshima Maidens, a Christian, whose face was disfigured by the blast, stayed with us. She gave us a gift of a cross, which had been formed when human bone had been fused by the tremendous heat of the A-Bomb onto the X-shaped links of a Japanese chain-link fence. It was the eeriest crucifix we had ever seen; a cross formed by death. In response to the cold war, our parents took Russian lessons, so they would be able to speak to the "enemy" behind the Iron Curtain. In fact, they did go to the USSR, carrying messages of International Peace to the Russian citizens they encountered, and even to their guides who were assigned to them at every moment. In October of 1962 we became aware of the now-famous brinksmanship between Kennedy, Castro, and Khrushchev, over Russian nuclear missiles in Cuba, and many were convinced by the radio coverage that we might all be blown up that very day. The Russians in Cuba would aim for New York and Washington, and we Philadelphians would asphyxiate in the fireball. Fifty years later, nuclear weapons are still a menace. Fukushima reminds us of natural dangers as well as geopolitical ones. Who can say what motivates the countries developing nuclear arsenals? Just today we heard the report that another Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated. The above stories and elements are some of the reasons we want more people to support the idea being pursued by California Veterans for Peace. Quakers use the expression ‘Speak truth to power.’ The resurrection of The Golden Rule as a teaching vessel, bespeaking the truths of history and of today, can have an enormous impact. Nelson Camp |
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Posted 7/18/2011 July, 2011 Humboldt Friends Meeting is thrilled to show our support for the restoration of the Golden Rule by the Vets for Peace of Humboldt County. Once the Golden Rule was rescued from the bottom of Humboldt Bay, it was the inspiration and initiative of the Vet's for Peace to bring this historic boat back to life and use it as a tool to “promote peace and diplomacy” throughout the world. Those of us in the Quaker community and beyond who remember the Golden Rule's courageous journeys into the nuclear testing zones in the Pacific ocean are very moved by the plans to restore the boat as an educational tool and messenger of peace. We encourage others to support their effort as well. Humboldt Friends Meeting Arcata, California |
| Posted 6/30/2011 Dear Veterans For Peace friends, Southern Humboldt Worship Group
is delighted to see the restoration of the the Golden Rule
both to its original seaworthy condition and to its mission of
"waging peace" in the world. The ripples from its voyage
toward the U.S. nuclear testing site in the Pacific were a
significant contribution to the nuclear test ban treaty. (Its crew
imprisoned, tried and convicted in Hawaii, the voyage was
completed by Earle and Barbara Reynolds in the Phoenix,
with resultant worldwide publicity and raising of awareness.) May the journeys of the restored Golden Rule continue to inspire, educate, and lead. The enclosed contribution represents a small token of appreciation to the Veterans for Peace for taking on this worthy project. Blessings, |
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Top Honors in the 2nd Annul Redwood Coast Peace Poetry Contest went to Amy Fontaine for her poem inspired by the Golden Rule. Amy gave a stirring reading of her poem at the May 6, 2011, Peace Poetry Celebration. Here, then, is her note of introduction and poem.School. Attached is my entry for your Peace Poetry Contest. I wrote my poem about VFP's local efforts to restore the peace-ship Golden Rule; I read an article about the project in the Eureka, California, Times-Standard newspaper and it moved me deeply. The poem, "Serenity Sets Sail," was the result. Thank you for raising awareness of peace efforts in our community. Sincerely, Amy Fontaine (February 4, 2011) Serenity Sets Sail |
January 25, 2011: We have heard from Sally Willowbee (Willoughby), the daughter of the late George Willoughby, crewman on the Golden Rule during its famous voyages in 1958. In her email she is responding to our open invitation to families of all former GR crew members to sail with us at some point after restoration is completed.
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January 25, 2011 I'll be there if I have to walk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if this little tidbit of information will help.........but here it is: in the late 60's early 70's I hung out on another peace boat, the Montcevideo with Scott Herrick in a boat yard in Ft. Lauderdale (in 1971 we sailed to Cuba as a War Resisters League Project).....anyway, and what boat comes in to Ft Lauderdale but the Golden Rule. This is what I remember about it. The name of the boat was changed by the person who bought it directly after the action in 1958. This person bought, maybe from that first person and changed the name back to Golden Rule....he was quite proud of the history of his little boat....and had the original log and a copy of the book. He was quite delighted to meet me. If the name of the boat yard would help, I might be able to contact someone who would remember it. peace, |
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December, 2010 Attention Golden Rule Project: So happy to discover that the Golden Rule is being saved. I sailed on the GR for about 4 months when I was 19 years old while the then owner, Ed Lush, was sailing in the Carribean. We had many adventures; I was a recent drop-out from West Point and while on board, I read and was inspired by Albert Bigelow's Voyage of the Golden Rule. I would later in life become a VISTA volunteer, a Peace Corps Volunteer, Homeless advocate, and worked in the Underground Railroad assisting Central American refugees. I have attached some drawings that I did while on board the Golden Rule....not great art but a bit of history, just the same. The main mast was snapped off in Cap Hatien, Haiti on our way home and we hobbled in to Ft. Lauderdale with the assistance of a tow from the coast guard... Sincerely, |
| Drawings by Scott Stoll, Former crew on Golden Rule (circa 1973) |
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Email: fchampagne@asis.com
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