Protesters at the military port of Marchwood have moved their ship back down Southampton Water after it grounded on an ebb tide last night.

The Rainbow Warrior, flagship of the Greenpeace organisation, anchored close to Marchwood yesterday morning in an attempt to disrupt the movement of supply ships involved with the augmented Naval Task Group 2003, which has now started amphibious exercises in the Mediterranean.

Three protesters chained themselves to a ship and its crane before they were removed by military police.

According to the Greenpeace website, the organisation is opposed to the preparations for a possible war in Iraq on the grounds that it would have “devastating human and environmental consequences”, because “Bush is clearly trying to get control of Iraq’s oil reserves”, and because “war is an ineffective way to deal with weapons of mass destruction.”

Yesterday evening it is believed that the Rainbow Warrior, anchored in shallow water, settled on the bed of Southampton Water as the tide went out, and she was stranded until she refloated on the next tide.

She has now anchored off Calshot, close to the entrance to Southampton Water.

The supply ship is due to sail from Marchwood overnight.