Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior
By David Robie
Little Island Press. July, 2025
On July 10, 1985, agents from France鈥檚 secret service bombed the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior as it sat moored in Auckland Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand. The attack sank the vessel and killed 36-year-old photographer Fernando Pereira, shocking the world and exposing one of the most blatant examples of state terrorism against environmental activists in the West.
Forty years later, award鈥憌inning journalist David Robie has released a fully updated anniversary edition of his book Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior. Robie was the only journalist on board during the Rainbow Warrior鈥檚 final humanitarian and anti鈥憂uclear mission in the Pacific,聽when the ship arrived in New Zealand, giving him a unique vantage point on the events leading up to the bombing.
First published in 1986, Eyes of Fire was an account of the voyage that brought the plight of Pacific peoples and the devastating legacy of nuclear testing to global attention. The book chronicles Greenpeace鈥檚 flagship role in campaigns against commercial whaling, nuclear waste dumping and nuclear testing in the Pacific. Between 1946鈥96, the United States, Britain and France detonated in the region, leaving behind widespread environmental destruction and a public health crisis that still endures.
One of the Rainbow Warrior鈥檚 final missions was to of Rongelap Atoll, whose lands had been poisoned by radiation from the US鈥 infamous Bravo 鈥渢est鈥 in 1954. The 鈥 a thousand times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima 鈥 left generations of Rongelapese suffering from thyroid cancers, stillbirths and other health problems.
The new edition of Eyes of Fire reflects on the enduring legacy of these events, situating the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior within a broader pattern of state efforts to suppress environmental movements 鈥 a reality that resonates even more sharply today, as governments and corporate media increasingly brand peaceful climate activists as 鈥渢errorists鈥.
At the time of the bombing, the Rainbow Warrior had become a potent symbol of international solidarity with Pacific peoples and their struggles against militarism, colonialism and environmental destruction. Its destruction, intended to stifle opposition to France鈥檚 nuclear testing at Moruroa Atoll, instead galvanised global support for Greenpeace and anti鈥憂uclear movements.
鈥淔orty years on, the Rainbow Warrior remains an icon of resistance, and the issues it fought for are far from over,鈥 Robie at the new edition鈥檚 launch in Auckland on July 10. 鈥Eyes of Fire is not only a record of what happened, but a reminder of the courage of those who stand up against nuclear colonialism and for the protection of our planet.鈥
[The 40th鈥慳nniversary edition of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow Warrior can be purchased .]