The Rainbow Warrior was a former UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) trawler called the Sir William Hardy. It was purchased by the environmental organization Greenpeace UK - an office established in May 1977 with Susi Newborn, Denise Bell, David McTaggart, Charlie Hutchison and Allan Thornton as directors. The ship was active in supporting a number of Greenpeace whaling, seal hunting, nuclear testing and nuclear waste dumping campaigns during the late 1970s and early 1980s.