The ship ''Life'' is a former fishing cutter, which was used in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

from 2017 to 2018 under the name ''Seefuchs'' for the

Sea-Eye Sea-Eye is a German non-governmental organization headquartered in Regensburg. It participates in the rescue of migrants in distress in the Mediterranean, in particular by having chartered the ships '' Sea-Eye'' and '' Seefuchs/ Sea Fox'' until Aug ...

association from

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

as a rescue ship between Malta and Libya. In 2019 the ship was given away to the Spanish organisation Proem-Aid. In 2021, the ship was intercepted in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

with a large drug load after being bought by drug dealers, in a joint investigation by the

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

and the

Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera The Customs Surveillance Service (, SVA) is a law enforcement agency of the Spanish Ministry of Finance, integrated in the Spanish Tax Agency. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prosecution of cases involving contraband, illegal ...

. Before she was used as a rescue ship, the ''Seefuchs'' was based in the museum harbor in

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

for many years as a museum or traditional ship. Her sister ship is the ''

'', which is also used by Sea-Eye.

History; ''Heringshai''

The ship was built at the

Elbewerft Boizenburg Elbewerft Boizenburg was a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Boizenburg. Since 1990 it has been part of the Deutschen Maschinen- und Schiffbau AG (DMS AG). History The boat workshop was founded by Franz Jürgen Lemm in 1793. The first ...

shipyard,

Boizenburg Boizenburg (, ) is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Elbe, west of Ludwigslust, northeast of Lüneburg and east of Hamburg. It is part of the ...

and was launched in 1958. She entered service in January 1959 as SAS 316, ''Heringshai''. The owner and operator was VEB Fischfang Saßnitz. 50 of the same type of ship were built first at the

Volkswerft Volkswerft () is a shipyard in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund on the Strelasund. It is part of the German Hegemann-group. The Volkswerft was founded in 1948 as ''Ingenieurbau Ges.m.b.H.''. On April 25 the first trawler was delivered and on June 1 ...

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

and later at Elbewerft Boizenburg. The cutter has a length of 26.50 meters, which is why it was colloquially called "twenty-six". The fishing area for the ''Heringshai'' was primarily the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

and the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. Until 1991 she was in use for commercial fishing.

Museum ship, ''Seefuchs''

In 1993 the ship was sold and renamed ''Seefuchs'' and came to the museum harbor in Greifswald as a museum ship. Since the

Ryck The Ryck is a river in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. From its source near Bartmannshagen, part of the Süderholz community northeast of Grimmen, the Ryck flows for about to the east, reaching Greifswald shortly before its mouth. The large ...

fairway depth Fairway is a part of a water body (bay, harbor, river) containing the navigable channel (also known as a ''ship channel''), a route suitable for ships of the larger size (with draft closer to the draft limit). Fairway depth, width, and heigh ...

was reduced in the course of the construction of the barrage in Wieck, several ships had to leave the museum harbor. For this reason, the ''Seefuchs'' came to

in 2014. There is also a film dating from this time.

''Seefuchs'', Rescue ship with Sea-Eye

In the wake of the humanitarian emergency and in the face of numerous people drowned in connection with immigration to the EU via the Mediterranean Sea, the

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Sea-Eye bought the ship in 2017. After some modifications, the former museum ship was used for rescue operations in the Mediterranean until the end of 2018. On June 21, 2018, the Italian Interior Minister

Matteo Salvini Matteo Salvini (; born 9 March 1973) is an Italian politician who has been serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport since 2022. He has been List of F ...

(

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

) announced that the ''Seefuchs'' and '' Lifeline'' of the

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

organisation of the same name are no longer allowed to call at Italian ports. Salvini said Italy would no longer aid the "illegal immigration business" and that the organisations would have to find other ports to dock. Transport Minister

Danilo Toninelli Danilo Toninelli (born 2 August 1974) is an Italian politician. Biography Toninelli was born in Soresina on 2 August 1974. He graduated in law at the University of Brescia in 1999. From 1999 to 2001 he was an Officer within the Carabinieri Corp ...

(MoVimento 5 Stelle) then announced the seizure of both ships for the purpose of a registration check, as the Representation of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

had stated that they were not in the Dutch registers. According to press releases,

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

announced to Sea-Eye in September 2018 that it would only authorize the ''Seefuchs'' to leave port if the association made a "strong, formal and official declaration" that it would no longer engage in

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations (SAR). On 23 November it was announced that Malta would unconditionally release the ''Seefuchs'' after six months of detention. Shortly before this, on 19 November 2018, the flag had been changed from the Netherlands to Germany.

''Life'', Rescue ship with Proem Aid

The ship was donated to the Spanish organisation Proem-Aid in March 2019 and is to be used by the organisation under the name ''Life''. PROEM intend to use ''Life'' for training volunteers and to raise awareness of the problems faced by refugees.

Criminal organization buy the ship

In November 2020, a criminal organization based in Spain dedicated to drug dealing bought the ship from the NGO Proem-Aid. After preparing the ship for navigation and change its main color to blue from red color, it travelled to the coast of Morocco, where the criminal organization proceeded to load up to 15 tons of

hashish Hashish (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...

. In June 2021, in an investigation carried out by the

and the

, the ship was intercepted 100 nautical miles south of

Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...

(Spain). The authorities seized 15,000 kilograms of hashish and arrested its crew, made up of two Moroccan citizens, a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

citizen, a Latvian citizen and a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

citizen. As of July 2021 the ship was interned in the port of

References

{{Reflist Sea rescue organizations European migrant crisis Immigrant rights activism Humanitarian aid organizations in Europe Refugee aid organizations in Europe