1.
ZOOM OUT FROM Flag on mast to ship at quayside.
0.06

2.
SV Crew members making final preparations.
0.19

3.
SV TILT UP FROM Nameplate "Fri" to girl adjusting rigging
0.24

4.
SV & CU Crew members using electric plane to trim hatchway (2 shots)
0.37

5.
SV Crew members making adjustments to gear.
0.50

6.
SV TILT DOWN From people on dock to crew members gathered on deck.
0.56

7.
SV ZOOM OUT FROM Rigging to GV ship.
1.02

8.
SV People watching from dock.
1.05

9.
SV & GV Ship sailing.
1.23



Initials PK/VS 22.39 PK/VS 22.51



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Australian Government has announced it will send Navy ships into the test area if France goes ahead with plans to explode more nuclear devices in the South Pacific.

Overseas Trade Minister Mr. Jim Cairns said on his return form trade talks in New Zealand on Sunday (25 March) that both Governments agreed that protection of the Pacific was a "major responsibility".

New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Hugh Watt, is due to fly to Paris next Friday to voice his country's opposition to the teats. Australia may also send a Minister to Paris.

Meanwhile, a New Zealand protest ketch, with a crew of 13, including three girls, left Whangarei on Wednesday (20 March) for the Mururoa Atoll, in the South Pacific, where the French atmospheric nuclear tests are expected within the next two months.

The 105-foot ketch named "Fri" (pronounced Free) will act as a mother ship for a small armada of protest vessels which it is expected will be sailing into the area to disrupt the tests.

The vessel is sponsored by the New Zealand peace movement Peace Media Research, which organised a similar protest in the area last year.

Before leaving on the 3,000-mile (4,800 kms) journey, the ketch was declared fit for the voyage by a Government surveyor and blessed by an archdeacon.

Among the crew are two Britons, a Frenchman and a Dutchman. The vessel is owned by American David Moodie, who is being accompanied by his wife.

SYNOPSIS: At the New Zealand port of Whangerei, the finishing touches are put to a ship with a mission......to sail to the South Pacific in protest against French plans to go ahead with more nuclear tests there.....possibly within the next two months.

The one-hundred-and-five-foot ketch named "FRI" is sponsored by the New Zealand peace movement Peace Media Research, which organised a similar protest in the area of the tests last year.

Among the thirteen crew members, of which three are girls, are to Americans, two Britons, a Frenchman and a Dutchman. They plan to use the vessel as a mother ship for a small armada of protest vessels that are expected to sail into the Mururoa Atoll area to disrupt the tests.

After being declared fit for the voyage by a Government ??? and blessed by an archdeacon, the ketch set sail on its three-thousand mile journey. Meanwhile, the Australian Government has announced it will send Navy ships into the area if France goes ahead with its test plans. New Zealand's deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Watt, is flying to Paris next Friday to voice his country's opposition to the tests.