"It seared its way into the souls of New Zealanders in a way nothing else could," Palmer says of the attack on a Greenpeace ship that was due to take part in protests against French nuclear testing in the Pacific.

But 20 years later relations between the two countries are back on an even keel. The ending of French nuclear testing in 1996 has removed the main cause of friction between the two countries, says Palmer, who led negotiations with France after the bombing and served as Prime Minister between 1988 and 1990.

It is difficult to over-estimate New Zealanders' sense of shock when they awoke on July 11, 1985 to hear news of the death of a Greenpeace photographer when two explosions ripped the hull of the Rainbow Warrior at its dock in central Auckland. Fernando Pereira drowned after going to his cabin between the two explosions to retrieve a camera.

The shock only grew as it gradually became clear the bombing was the work of French secret agents. Two of them -- Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart -- were caught by police two days later as they returned their campervan to the rental company.

The divers who placed the explosives on the hull and others in the 13-strong secret service team were later identified but never arrested by New Zealand authorities.

Prime Minister David Lange went on to describe the bombing as "a sordid act of international state-backed terrorism".

The Rainbow Warrior was in Auckland to head a flotilla of protest boats to Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia in an attempt to disrupt French nuclear testing.

The tests - 193 atmospheric and underground explosions were conducted between 1966 and 1996 - had long been a source of discord between France on one hand and New Zealand, Australia and other Pacific nations on the other.

In 1973 New Zealand Prime Minister Norman Kirk decided to send the navy frigate Otago to Mururoa as "a silent accusing witness". The government also worked with Australia to challenge France in the International Court of Justice, which resulted in France agreeing to move from atmospheric to underground tests in 1975.

When Lange's centre-left Labour Party won power in 1984 on a firmly anti-nuclear platform, the government immediately came into conflict with the United States by banning visits by nuclear-armed or propelled warships. The impasse resulted in New Zealand being excluded from the tripartite ANZUS defence agreement with the US and Australia.

The anti-nuclear policy had widespread public support and against this background the Rainbow Warrior sailed into Auckland Harbour on July 7, 1985.

- Bombing furthered anti-nuclear feeling in NZ -

On board was New Zealand journalist David Robie, who had spent two months on the ship, witnessing its evacuation of 320 people from Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which was still suffering contamination from the massive US Bravo nuclear test in 1954.

Robie later wrote "Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior" and is releasing an updated edition for the 20th anniversary.

He had returned to his Auckland home when the Rainbow Warrior docked and heard of the bombing early the morning after.

"The reaction was of absolute shock. I came to the conclusion quite quickly, it could only have come from France," he says of the bombing.

By September that year France had been forced to admit its responsibility, defence minister Charles Hernu had resigned and the head of the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security) secret service Admiral Pierre Lacoste had been sacked.

In November, Mafart and Prieur pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges and were sentenced to 10 years in jail.

French pressure to have the pair returned saw trade pressure applied to New Zealand, which relied heavily on agricultural exports to the European Union. Export shipments to France and its South Pacific territory New Caledonia were held up or rejected.

After UN mediation, a July 1986 agreement saw the agents released from jail in New Zealand for what was supposed to be three years exile on Hao atoll in French Polynesia. By the middle of 1988 both had been returned to France, a move which intensified New Zealand bitterness towards the French government.

"The whole thing left a very sour taste with New Zealanders, the agents carried out an act of state terrorism, they got a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket," Robie says. They went home "celebrated as heroes".

Palmer and Robie both agree the bombing was a disaster for France, serving to strengthen New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance -- which is still supported by the great majority of New Zealanders. The strength of feeling means the major political parties are unwilling to challenge the policy.

The bombing also created a massive wave of sympathy and surge of support for Greenpeace, which received eight million US dollars compensation from France.

The capture of the two agents, the failed cover-up and the global publicity over the incident caused huge damage to France's reputation. The country was "ritually shamed and humiliated", Palmer says.

"It was just a mad scheme that went out of control, there was absolutely nothing to be gained," Robie says.

But he adds France has since worked hard to rehabilitate its image in the Pacific region, through economic aid and cultural ties.

Palmer agrees, saying relations between the two countries are now "pretty good".

He gives much credit to Michel Rocard, French Prime Minister from 1988-91, who was the first French Prime Minister to visit New Zealand in 1991, when he repeated a 1989 apology for the bombing. He also established the French-New Zealand Friendship Fund to finance cultural and scientific cooperation between the two countries.

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