The Golden Rule – a historic 1958 ship that originally set sail to protest nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands six decades ago and has since been restored and operated by Veterans For Peace with the same anti-nuclear mission – will stop in Traverse City this month as part of a 15-month voyage targeting 100 ports of call. The Traverse City visit will include several events – including a public Flotilla for Peace, movie screenings at the State Theatre, ship tours, and an Open Space rally – all centered on the organization’s anti-war message.

Four Quaker peace activists tried to sail the Golden Rule – considered the world’s first modern protest ship – to the Marshall Islands in 1958 to interfere with U.S. nuclear weapons testing. The crew was arrested in Honolulu and prevented from continuing on their journey. However, the arrests sparked worldwide protests and helped eventually lead to the U.S. signing the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963. The Golden Rule is also considered to be a direct predecessor to environmental activist organization Greenpeace.

In subsequent decades, the Golden Rule changed hands multiple times and endured several sinkings. It was rediscovered as a derelict wreck in 2010 in California's Humboldt Bay. Boatyard owner Leroy Zerlang recovered the vessel and allowed Veterans For Peace – a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising “public awareness of the causes and costs of war” and encouraging the end of nuclear weapons – to take over, spearheading its restoration over the next five years. In 2015, Veterans For Peace began sailing the renovated 34-foot wooden ketch once again to communities around the world on a mission to promote non-violence and nuclear peace.

The Golden Rule is currently mid-way through a 2022-23 voyage known to sailors as the “Great Loop,” covering the Mississippi River, Gulf Coast, Eastern Seaboard, and Great Lakes. The voyage is focused in part on building support in communities across the country for U.S. participation in the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Veterans For Peace is aware of the timeliness of its mission, pointing in recent interviews to the threat of nuclear powers confronting each other in Ukraine and the release of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film Oppenheimer, which tells the story of the creation of the atomic bomb.

“I saw Oppenheimer, and it was frightening,” says Tim Keenan, president of Veterans For Peace’s Chapter 50 in northern Michigan. Keenan, who asked the Golden Rule crew to come to Traverse City, notes the topic of nuclear weapons is becoming a popular one locally not only because of the film but events like Traverse Area District Library’s upcoming discussion with Jack Segal – scheduled for August 8 at 6pm in the McGuire Community Room – on nuclear proliferation. Keenan hopes the Golden Rule’s visit will help amplify that conversation.

“I’m hoping it raises awareness as to how frightening and catastrophic it would be if anyone ever pushed that button,” he says.

The Golden Rule will sail to Traverse City for a two-day visit August 22 and 23, part of a Midwest tour that will also include stops in Detroit, Port Huron, Mackinaw City, and St. Joseph/Kalamazoo before the ship ends its voyage in Chicago next month and is trucked back to California. The ship is targeting an arrival at the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay between noon and 3pm on August 22 (exact arrival times are difficult to predict with sailing vessels, but the Golden Rule shares a live map of its location that’s updated every 10 minutes). The vessel is expected to sail past Northport, Omena, Peshawbestown, Suttons Bay, and Old Mission before arriving at the Open Space in downtown Traverse City.

In conjunction with the Golden Rule’s arrival, Veterans For Peace will host a public Flotilla for Peace inviting boaters and paddlers to meet and escort the ship as she makes her way down the 35 miles of Grand Traverse Bay to Traverse City. (More details will be posted online in the coming weeks with specific locations along the route where the public can meet up with the boat on the water.) That evening, the State Theatre will host a free double feature and Q&A with the crew of the Golden Rule at 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm). The screening will feature two 25-minute documentaries: Making Waves: The Rebirth of the Golden Rule and Phoenix of Hiroshima – An Odyssey Interrupted.

The next day, on August 23, the public will be invited to tour the Golden Rule, meet its captain and crew, and learn more about the project between 11am and 3pm at Clinch Park Marina. Tours will be followed by a Rally for Peace in the Open Space from 4:30pm to 8pm. The event will feature multiple speakers, including Gerry Condon (Golden Rule crew member), Helen Jaccard (Golden Rule crew member and project director), Alfred Meyer (Physicians for Social Responsibility lobbyist, writer on nuclear issues, and part-time crew member), John Zachman (NMC professor), Holly Bird (local activist, attorney, and co-executive director of Title Track), and Kevin Kamps (Beyond Nuclear watchdog and nuclear waste specialist). Several musicians will also perform, including Grand Traverse Band Community Drum, Mindimooyenh Healing Circle, Victor McManemy, and Robin Lee Berry.

For Keenan – a veteran who served in Vietnam – the Golden’s Rule message of peace is a deeply personal one. “I became involved (with Veterans For Peace) because it’s a group of like-minded veterans who believe in alternatives to war, in spending more time teaching peace and negotiating and less time bombing,” he says. “I’m a combat veteran. I was in the war for a year. I saw lots of friends perish, and there’s just a better way to do things.”

Pictured: The Golden Rule in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, at the end of its first sailing season in October 2015 following its restoration. Photo by Gerry Condon.