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“Hey hippie” was the tongue-in-cheek greeting on the electronic sign giving directions to the turn off on the Samoa peninsula to the Zerlang & Zerlang Boat Yard on Saturday, June 20. This was the first hint that the launching ceremony of the rebuilt sailing vessel Golden Rule was going to be a special mix of humor, well-deserved pride in boat restoration and a history lesson about non-violent peaceful protest against nuclear war.


The event clearly demonstrated that “it takes a village” to accomplish great things – in this case, a five-year, $180,000 restoration of the 30-foot wooden sailing ketch Golden Rule (called “the original peace vessel”). Leroy Zerlang, co-owner of the boat yard with his wife, Dalene, began the ceremony with a summary of how he came to have the vessel in his boat yard in the first place and how a Garberville chapter of Veterans For Peace formed the movement to salvage and raise the money to restore the vessel after she sank at the Zerlang’s dock.
“The boat arrived in Humboldt Bay in 1995 and was owned by a local doctor,” Zerlang said. His involvement began when he agreed in March of 2010 to “get her ready for the next time she was going to sink.” But the owner never came back to reclaim her after the repairs.

The Golden Rule then became a derelict, sitting on the beach at the boatyard – something that doesn’t look good for a boat-repair facility, said Zerlang. ”I was ready to get drunk some night and burn it, but my online searching led to responses from the Smithsonian, the Quakers and a bunch of other people that this was a boat worth saving.”
Zerlang next introduced to the large crowd Chuck DeWitt, of Fairhaven, the restoration coordinator, volunteer Michael Gonzalez, of Trinidad, Brekin Van Veldhuizen, of Eureka, a graduate of the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building, who led the hands-on work, and other boatyard employees.

After the local chapter of the Veterans For Peace members got the local restoration underway, the national V.F.P. organization made the restoration of the Golden Rule a national project, intending to use the vessel as an educational tool advocating the end of war as a national policy. After sea trials at the end of next week, a crew will sail the Golden Rule to San Diego on July 16 in time for the Veterans for Peace’s national convention. Its theme this year is “peace and reconciliation in the Pacific.”
A set of guest speakers followed on the program, including Seth Rick, of Shively, one of many restoration-project volunteers and donors. He said he was motivated to join the project due to the presence of a nuclear-blast survivor in his own family circle. He introduced Hiroshima survivor Shigeko Sasamori, of Marina Del Rey, who ended her short speech with a plea: “Never happen again. Never happen again. Never happen again. Golden Rule is an education peace boat.”

After Gail Eastwood offered a blessing of the Golden Rule (“May her work of peace making be blessed”), Sasamori and Kitty Bigelow Benton, daughter of the original captain of the protest voyage in 1958, christened the bow of the Golden Rule with the traditional bottles of champagne. One bottle broke on the first blow, but the second required multiple blows before breaking, eliciting loud cheers from the crowd of onlookers.
The Golden Rule was then launched into Humboldt Bay, where Cody Zerlang, at the helm of the tugboat Ajax, towed it to the HSU Aquatic Center along the Eureka Waterfront. It was accompanied by a crowd of onlookers on the Madaket, a water-cannon salute by the Port of Humboldt Bay fireboat, and other assorted vessels and kayaks. Passengers included Orion Sherwood, the youngest member of the Golden Rule’s original crew, and others.

The program and party continued at the Aquatic Center after the Golden Rule’s arrival.
The restoration of the Golden Rule is a powerful symbol for today’s generations of peace activists, and the events of this launch day brought to life its role in 1958 as one of the first nuclear-protest peace vessels. Its attempt to prevent nuclear testing in the Pacific Ocean helped bring about a worldwide movement against nuclear weapons that led to the nuclear test ban treaty of 1963.

The original Golden Rule and its crew also inspired many modern environmental and peace voyages, including those by Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds. It’s pretty cool to think that it was saved from a bonfire and restored to its current beauty in a local shipyard by a talented group of people led by Leroy, Chuck and Brekin. May it have many future peace voyages!