Quite frankly, even though I am an environmentalist myself, I found this a rather wretched read. This tone is present throughout the book and taken on almost messianic proportions at times.

But what I remember most is his magical sea powers, instantly finding his bearings in the darkness despite the fact that he was inexplicably naked.

What a great introduction to the perils he faces. Wilcox tells the story of how his ship was sabotaged and in the attack someone died. This is not to say that Wilcox is not an outstanding individual, but rather such writing gets very tiring very fast. He does have some interesting stories to tell, and his insider perspective is useful for anyone wishing to understand this corner of the environmentalist movement, but by and large I found myself frustrated to the degree to which his ego kept creeping into the narrative. Regrettably “Greenpeace Captain” is too much of the latter. The worst are tiring egotistical indulgences. The best are insightful narratives with useful insider observations. I find that autobiographies tend to be very hit-or-miss. And he does this by an appreciation of life and nature, and by imbuing everything with the willing and adventurous spirit that for Willcox belongs to the activist. But he also does what he's clearly trying to do he makes impressive and important the environmentalist message he enacts. Willcox is a good and unpretentious storyteller, humorous and dry at times, attentive to the moments that pulled him up and pushed him on and one gets the sense that he understates (beautifully) the life he's led and without trying. If nothing else, I just hoped to immerse myself in one such organisation and get a feel for the lives its people lead and their motivations and outlooks. I picked up Willcox's memoir on the advice of a friend I'd been looking for perspectives from individuals engaged in activist organisations. This book is that story, but it's also the more substantial one of Willcox's career with Greenpeace, seen from his earliest days in the organisation, on to the notorious bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985 by French agents, and through the many memorable actions he's been a part of over the course of that career and up to the present. During this action, all 30 crew members were arrested and imprisoned by the Russian government. In September 2013, Captain Peter Willcox and the crew of the Greenpeace vessel, the Arctic Sunrise, took part in an action against Gazprom's Prirazlomnaya drilling platform.

Peter wilcox greenpeace