WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Television actress Lucy Lawless climbed aboard an oil-drilling ship Friday in New Zealand, joining six Greenpeace activists to try to stop the vessel from setting off for the Arctic.

Speaking from atop a 174-foot (53-meter) drilling tower aboard the Noble Discoverer in Port Taranaki, Lawless told The Associated Press on Friday that wind gusts were making it difficult to stay put but that she and the other protesters planned to stay there for "as long as we possibly can." She said she had a "little bit" of food and some provisions with her.

The protesters hung banners from the drilling derrick reading "Stop Shell" and "(hashtag)SaveTheArctic."

The ship is chartered by oil company Shell. Shona Geary, the company's New Zealand spokeswoman, said the ship was due to leave over the weekend for a drilling program in the Arctic but that all operations aboard had come to a stop.