In the 1950s, the Reynolds family consisted of Dr. Earle Reynolds, a
professor of physical anthropology (otherwise known as Daddy), his wife
Barbara Reynolds ("Mummy"), a housewife and an author, mostly of
children's books, and their three children: Tim, Ted, and Jessica. (That's
me.)
Daddy had been sent by our Atomic Energy Commission to do a 3-year study on the
effects of the A-bomb on Japanese children. In his spare time, he
designed and built a 50-foot yacht. She was christened "Phoenix of
Hiroshima" and launched in 1954. Daddy took a sabbatical and the Phoenix
took our family (except for Tim, who went back to the States for college)
and three Japanese yachtsmen around the world. I was 10 when we started the
trip. Ted was 16.
Four American men in Golden Rule, a small yacht down the dock from us
were preparing to sail into the zone as an anti-nuclear protest. On June
4, on their way out of the harbor, they were intercepted by the Coast Guard,
brought back and jailed.
Now our own voyage took on a more serious purpose. My father was an
expert on the damage radiation causes. He knew even nuclear tests release
death into the air and sea currents around the planet--and he believed somebody
ought to do something about it. He was a scientist and at that point he
also became an activist.
Our family and our Hiroshiman first mate sailed from Honolulu bound for Hiroshima
and on July 1 we entered the test zone to protest the testing of nuclear
weapons. Three years later we would sail from Japan to the USSR for the
same reason. . . Later Dad would sail through the 7th Fleet, protesting the Vietnam War by taking humanitarian supplies to the Red Cross in Haiphong.
The Golden Rule and Phoenix were only together for those few
weeks in 1958. They changed owners. The crew members lost touch
with each other. Some of them died.
Then, in 2010, out of the blue, both boats were found separately 225 miles
apart--on the coast of northern California. The Golden Rule had
been abandoned, her masts gone, with a hole in her side, lying on a beach in
northern California. Almost at the same time, an ad for the Phoenix appeared
on Craig's List, "FREE: 50-foot yacht." Her masts were gone.
The man who answered the ad towed her up the Sacramento River to work on her,
hit a dock which gashed a hole in her side. She sank. He abandoned her.
The Golden Rule was restored by Veterans for Peace
(http://vfpgoldenruleproject.org/ ) and re-launched into Humboldt Bay,
California in 2015.
The Phoenix is still at the bottom of the Mokelumne River off Tyler
Island in northern California. In her day she changed our family's lives and
then thousands of other lives. We hope she will change thousands
more. This boat gets into the blood and
imagination of everyone who comes to know about her.
But first we have to get her out of the river. A small but swelling group
of us is trying to get the word out, get set up as a non-profit so donations
can be tax-deductible and raise interest and money to restore the Phoenix
as a (mobile) historical monument. There is lots of
enthusiasm to see the Phoenix rise over the next 4 years, to sail with
the Golden Rule again for a nuclear-free world.
Following posts about The Reynolds Family, The Nuclear Age, and a Brave
Wooden Boat are current updates about her condition and progress on
restoring her.
To
be added to our email list for updates on Raising the Phoenix, contact me at hiddeninjesus@gmail.com.
We also have a Twitter account at
https://twitter.com/RaisethePhoenix and hope to be on Facebook soon.
Jessica
Reynolds Shaver Renshaw
Extra
Ballast,
Phoenix
of Hiroshima,
1954-64
1 comment:
Wonderful story and how amazing those boats still exist.How exciting!
I think more and more that this whole story would make also a wonderful movie with a great message.Especially in a time were new original stories are hard to find...
Post a Comment