THE PHOENIX OF HIROSHIMA — I
n the late 1950s, a 50-ft sailboat slipped out of Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu and sailed quietly southwest for the Marshall Islands. The crew of the ketch — the Phoenix of Hiroshima — would go on to carry out the work of the Golden Rule, which had been intercepted by the US Coast Guard for attempting to inter-
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PHOENIX OF HIROSHIMA PROJECT, THE REYNOLDS FAMILY AND BRIAN COWDEN.
The Phoenix was commissioned by Dr. Earle Reynolds, an American anthropologist who had become one of the leading experts on the effects of radiation on the human body. In 1951, Earle was assigned by the US Atomic Energy Commission to study how the first atomic bomb impacted the growth of Japanese children. The Phoenix, a Colin Archer-style ketch, was built by local shipwrights in Hiroshima, and constructed from native Japanese woods. The Reynolds family would eventually sail around the world on the Phoenix, before meeting the crew of the 30-ft Golden Rule in Honolulu in 1958. "We had been deep sea sailing for over three years and were in Hawaii, and the Golden Rule was just a few slips down from us," Jessica Reynolds Renshaw, the daughter of Earle, told Latitude. "We were so impressed by their integrity — I think of it like meeting the four presidents carved into Mt. Rushmore. Our trip had The 'Phoenix of Hiroshima' under military escort — and her owner/skipper, Dr. Earle Reynolds, under been one of pleasure, but within a month arrest — after sailing into the nuclear test zone in of knowing those men, my father was motivated to act on his knowledge about the Marshall Islands in 1958. the dangers of nuclear testing. I was 14, fere with nuclear testing being conducted and it changed our thinking. We realized in the island chain. The Phoenix sailed we weren't just here to enjoy ourselves." into the Bikini test zone in July 1958 After sailing into the nuclear test zone, as the US government was in the midst Earle Reynolds was tried and convicted of experimenting with nuclear weapons in Honolulu for entering the forbidden in the "Pacific Proving Grounds," which area, but his sentence was overturned displaced the Marshallese population, on appeal. The Reynolds family would scarred the South Pacific (and perhaps go on to sail to the USSR in another the world) with radiation for generations, antinuclear-protest voyage. Later, other and ramped up the global arms race. crews would sail the Phoenix through the US 7th Fleet The 'Golden Rule' never made it to the Marshalls, but her crew inspired the Reyn- to protest the olds family to take action. From left: Bill Huntington, Albert Bigelow, Orion SherVietnam War wood and George Willoughby. Right: Jessica Reynolds Renshaw then and now. by taking humanitarian supplies to the Red Cross in North and S o u t h Vi e t -
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nam. Earle eventually sailed to Santa Cruz and sold the Phoenix. The ketch changed hands several times throughout the Bay Area, was damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake, and was eventually given away for free on Craigslist in 2010. But the Phoenix, which was declared a national shrine in Japan, now sits at the bottom of the Mokelumne River in the Delta. Much like the Golden Rule — an AngelmanDavies gaff ketch, which had been abandoned and gutted before she was restored and relaunched in 2015 (see the March 2013 issue of Latitude Latitude) — the Phoenix had ingloriously transcended her proud, historic past and become a forgotten relic. Now her life is coming full circle. A nonprofit corporation was founded to raise money, and eventually the Phoenix, from the shallow depths of the Mokelumne. The Phoenix of Hiroshima, named for a creature born from its own destruction that appears in both Western and Eastern mythology, may rise from the ashes once again. "The boat itself, for many reasons, is something which needs to be restored and kept in its place in history," Jessica was quoted as saying. "It needs to be visible. It needs to be tangible." In early July, the Golden Rule sailed up the Mokelumne to the site where the Phoenix is sunk. It was the first time the boats had been in such proximity since Ala Wai Harbor, 59 years ago. Rose petals were scattered, and Jessica said it was exciting to see the "entire circle close." She hopes the Phoenix can be restored and continue its mission of abolishing nuclear weapons and other environmental threats, and again serve as an enduring symbol of peace.