trident

Wow. Well it's now 2.50pm and around seven hours after we set sail. We are still here, right up against the pontoons that surround the Faslane nuclear weapons base – and just some 150 metres away a Trident submarine is sitting there… I keep staring at it… It's a large beast but it's still weird to think that something of that size can carry enough nuclear missiles to wipe out hundreds of thousand of people at the touch of a button…

Greenpeace campaigner Frank speaks from the bridge of the Arctic Sunrise about the day's activities at the nuclear missile submarine base in Scotland.

Writing from the Arctic Sunrise as it blockades Faslane, in protest against the government's plans to build new nuclear weapons.

Speedboats, inflatables, tugs, police boats – there's been mayhem in the Gareloch as volunteers scrambled to get to the pontoon that protects the Trident submarine. One person managed; he held up a banner from the pontoon reading NO NEW NUKES before being arrested.

Sixteen people have been arrested so far. All of our boats are now out of the water and the ship Arctic Sunrise is the only one left. We're still near the entrance to Faslane, and the waters around us are full of police and defence police vessels. You name it, they're out there. We’re being told that, if we come too close to the submarine, the ship will be boarded and taken. More updates soon.

Part of the Trident: we don't buy it tour blog


The Reverend Ainslie Walton casts a floral peace symbol into the waters outside Faslane nuclear weapons submarine base
© Greenpeace/Cobbing

Part of the Trident: we don't buy it tour blog


The bridge of the Arctic Sunrise
© Greenpeace/Sumner

The open boat day in Edinburgh was a brilliant success, so we're having another one - this time in Greenock, near Glasgow (map). For a guided tour around a working Greenpeace ship, come along to Custom House Quays at Greenock Docks between 11am and 4pm on Sunday 25th February - hope to see you there!