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''Sea-Watch 3'' is a ship of the
Sea-Watch Sea-Watch is a German non-governmental organisation that operates in the Mediterranean Sea, notably by commissioning ships to rescue migrants. History On 6 November 2017, the crew of a Sea-Watch ship rescued 58 people in an operation hindered b ...
organization based in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. The ship is around 50 m long, and is registered as a Cargo Ship in Germany. ''Sea-Watch 3'' is used for sea rescue in the Mediterranean.


Description

The ship is powered by two
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...
(type: D399TA) four-stroke sixteen-cylinder diesel engines with a total output of 1630 kW, which act on two fixed propellers via reduction gears. This gives a speed of around 10 kn. The ship is equipped with a
bow thruster Manoeuvering thrusters (bow thrusters and stern thrusters) are transversal propulsion devices built into or mounted to either the Bow (watercraft), bow or stern (front or back, respectively) of a ship or boat to make it more manoeuvrable. Bow th ...
. Two generator sets with 156 and 184 kVA apparent power are available for power generation, which are driven by a
Detroit diesel Detroit Diesel Corporation (DDC) is an American diesel engine manufacturer headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational Daimler Truck AG. ...
and a Caterpillar diesel engine. During service as ''Furore G'', the ship was operated by eight crew members who were accommodated in individual cabins. There was also space for seven other people in three double and one single cabin. ''Sea-Watch 3'' is the successor to '' Sea-Watch 2'' (2016-2017) and the original vessel named ''
Sea-Watch Sea-Watch is a German non-governmental organisation that operates in the Mediterranean Sea, notably by commissioning ships to rescue migrants. History On 6 November 2017, the crew of a Sea-Watch ship rescued 58 people in an operation hindered b ...
'' (2015).


History

The ship was built under construction number 211 by Shimoda Dockyard in Japan as an offshore supply vessel. The keel was laid in 1972. The ship was sold to Petroleiro Brasileiro S.A. in early July 1973. Petrobras Frota Nacional de Petroleiros in Rio de Janeiro and put into service as ''Alegrete''. In 1982 it was sold to Companhia Brasileiro de Offshore in Salvador. In 1990 the ship was sold to Sunset Shipping in Douglas on the
Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
and converted into an offshore safety ship. The ship's new name was ''Seaboard Swift''. In the second half of the 1990s it was sold and renamed several times: in 1995 it came to Hornbeck Shipping in Douglas and was renamed ''Hornbeck Swift'', in 1997 as ''Swift'' to Tidewater Marine (Northsea) in Den Helder and in 1999 to Rederij West Friesland in Den Heroes who renamed it ''Swift 1''. The Rederij West Friesland had it converted into a support ship for seismic research at the Frisian Shipyard in Harlingen. In 2004 the ship came to Telco Marine in Den Helder, but a few months later it came to Vroon Offshore Service. The ship's new name was ''VOS Southwind''. In 2010 the ship was sold to Rederij Groen and renamed ''Furore G'' at the end of the year. The Rederij Groen used the ship as an offshore support ship.


Use as a rescue ship


''Dignity I''

In 2015 the ship was sold to
Doctors Without Borders Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded ...
Spain () in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. The
non-governmental organization 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 ...
used it as ''Dignity I'' for the rescue of refugees in the Mediterranean.


Initial operations as ''Sea-Watch 3''

In 2017, the Sea-Watch Association took over the ship, replacing the smaller ''Sea-Watch 2''. Pia Klemp was a short-term member of the crew. On 6 November 2017, several people died in an incident at sea. They fell or jumped into the water when the ''Sea Watch 3'' and a Libyan boat got in each other's way while rescuing castaways. In June 2018, the ship was arrested by the Maltese authorities in the port of
Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...
because it was allegedly not properly registered under the Dutch flag. Although the proper Dutch registration had already been clarified in July, the ''Sea-Watch 3'' was refused permission to leave Valletta until October for political reasons. In December 2018, Sea-Watch filed a lawsuit against the Maltese Ministry of Transport for arbitrarily preventing the ''Sea-Watch 3'' from being freely available.


Legal dispute over port access in Italy


January 2019

In January 2019, Italy refused to allow the ''Sea-Watch 3'' to enter one of its ports with several rescued people on board, as the nearest safe port to the rescue location was in
Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
. Ten days after the rescue of the 47 people, in response to a lawsuit by the captain of ''Sea Watch 3'' and several rescued people on board, the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
decided that Italy had to provide the people on board with food and medical care. The minors on board must also be provided with legal assistance. The applicants had actually requested that the migrants be allowed to leave the boat. The court did not comply. A little later it became known from those around the Italian government that representatives of Germany, France, Portugal, Romania and Malta had agreed to accept the people.


May 2019

In mid-May 2019, the crew of the ''Sea-Watch 3'' rescued 65 people, 60 kilometers off the Libyan coast. The Italian Minister of the Interior,
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 ...
, issued a ban on sailing into Italian territorial waters. A little later, the injured and their families were taken in, 18 people went ashore in a coast guard boat. The ship itself remained outside Italian waters, 15 nautical miles from Lampedusa. According to the activists, some of the remaining 47 people then considered suicide if they were not brought ashore as well. Finally, on 18 May, despite the ban, the crew headed for Italian territorial waters. Humanitarian reasons as well as the psychological condition of the "guests" compelled this and the boat claimed the right to call at the next safe haven. The people were brought ashore off Lampedusa by the Italian coast guard and the
Guardia di Finanza The Guardia di Finanza (; G. di F. or GdF; or ) is an Italian militarised law enforcement agency under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Economy and Finance, instead of the Ministry of Defence (Italy), Ministry of Defence ...
. The ship was confiscated as a precaution. Salvini demanded the ship's decommissioning and sinking. He accused the public prosecutor who ordered the landing of "aiding and abetting illegal immigration to Italy". The interior minister threatened to take action against anyone who did such a thing. On 1 June 2019, the ship was released again by the authorities. Subsequently, the chairman of the council of the
Evangelical Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany (, EKD), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany, is a federation of twenty Lutheranism, Lutheran, Continental Reformed Protestantism, Reformed, and united and uniting churches, United Protestantism in Ger ...
,
Heinrich Bedford-Strohm Heinrich Bedford-Strohm (born 30 March 1960 in Memmingen) is a German Lutheranism, Lutheran bishop. Life His father was a Lutheran priest in Memmingen. Bedford-Strohm studied Lutheran theology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-N� ...
, visited the ship, which was not yet docked, to express his support for the crew.


Confiscation, summer 2019

The ''Sea Watch 3'' with twenty-two crew members and two employees of the NDR, including Nadia Kailouli, on board, saved 53 people from Libya. According to the crew's guest coordinator, there were thirty-eight men, nine women, three unaccompanied minors and three children, most of them from Ivory Coast or Ghana, some from Mali, Guinea, Egypt and Libya. First ten, and later another three people were brought ashore to Italy, mostly for medical reasons, while forty (thirty-two men, six women and two unaccompanied adolescents) remained on board while the ship entered Lampedusa without a permit. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini described the ship as a pirate ship. The
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...
and the
International Organization for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations related organization working in the field of migration. The organization implements operational assistance programmes for Human migration, migrants, including internally displa ...
appealed to European states to take in the rescued. On June 21, Captain Rackete and several nationals from various African countries applied to the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
for an interim order to force Italy to allow the ship to enter. However, the court rejected the urgent application on 25 June 2019, as provisional measures are only provided if there is an "immediate risk of irreparable damage". The situation on board the ship currently did not justify any coercion against Italy. Italy was informed that the court was relying on the necessary help from the authorities in relation to "those in the situation of vulnerability". On 26 June 2019, the ship entered Italian territorial waters despite the threat of high fines, because after two weeks on the ship the migrants “couldn't take it anymore” and “some threatened to jump overboard”. Salvini called on the judiciary to act quickly and said that Italy was not a "landing stage for illegals". "It is a Dutch ship from a German non-governmental organization that has taken in migrants off Libya." According to Salvini, nobody understood why Italy and its citizens should be responsible for it and should pay for it. The ship was stopped by the coast guard. Several Italian MPs then stayed overnight on the ship out of solidarity. The Archbishop of Turin,
Cesare Nosiglia Cesare Nosiglia (born 5 October 1944) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Archbishop of Turin from 2010 to 2022. He has been a bishop since 1991, serving first as an auxiliary bishop of Rome, vicegerent of Rome with the titl ...
, meanwhile offered that his church could look after the people without burdening the state. In addition, several German cities had also agreed to accept them. For this, however, the approval of the federal government would be necessary, because the federal government assumes around 90% of the costs for accommodation and living costs of the admitted refugees. The mayor of the Sicilian capital Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, made the ship's crew honorary citizens. On the night of 29 June the captain surprised the security forces with a mooring manoeuvre in the port of Lampedusa. A state patrol boat tried to prevent this and was pushed against the pier. A Sea-Watch spokesman justified the action with: “It was the last desperate attempt to ensure the safety of the people.” However, a political solution for the migrants had already been agreed at that time: Several EU states, including Germany, had offered to take in those seeking protection. Italy's Interior Minister Salvini, however, demanded appropriate guarantees, without which the ship would not have been allowed to land. A few hours after the mooring manoeuvre, the rescued migrants were allowed to go ashore. The arrested captain faced a fine of up to 50,000 euros for violating the port and water closures and between three and ten years in prison for resisting and using violence against a warship. The Interior Minister announced that if she was not convicted, she would be deported for endangering national security. The house arrest was lifted on July 2 by an investigating judge in
Agrigento Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading cities during the golden ...
. According to the MDR court ruling of the regional court, the judge ruled that the obligation to rescue at sea according to international maritime law should be assessed more strongly than the legal regulations in Italy that were changed by Interior Minister Salvini. The captain acted “in the fulfillment of a duty”. The extent of the collision with a boat of the Guardia di Finanza moored on the quay wall was exaggerated. Rackete was relieved. After the judge was verbally attacked by the media and Salvini, the Italian judges' association ANM accused Salvini of nurturing a climate of hatred and aversion. The UN human rights experts of the UN Human Rights Council condemned the criminalization of sea rescue and the intimidation of the independent Italian judiciary by the media and Salvini on July 18. The judicial decision aligned with the established international legal norms on sea rescue. On 25 September 2019, the Agrigento public prosecutor's office reimposed the seizure of the ship in order to preserve evidence. The ship was not allowed to sail because it would have violated the security decrees issued by Salvini. In mid-December, a court in
Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
released the ''Sea Watch 3'' so that it could leave the port of
Licata Licata (, ; , whence or ''Plintis''), formerly also Alicata (), is a city and ''comune'' located on the south coast of Sicily, at the mouth of the Salso River (the ancient ''Himera''), about midway between Agrigento and Gela. It is a major se ...
at the end of 2019 and resume sea rescue operations.


2020

On 9 January 2020, the activists took in two groups of 59 and 17 migrants, and on 10 January another 42 people who had previously requested rescue via the Alarm-Phone-Initiative were added. According to the Maltese military, the people taken on board from ''Sea Watch 3'' and 118 people from the ''Open Arms'' are to be taken over by Maltese ships on 11 January and transported ashore. On 14 January, Italy assigned
Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...
as a safe port of disembarkation for ''Sea-Watch 3''. The berthing in Taranto took place on 16 January and all the 119 rescued people went ashore. On 25 February, the activists picked up 194 migrants from three boats off the Libyan coast and then drove towards Italy. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President of the
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
Region, Sebastiano Musumeci, called for the migrants on board to be quarantined. The measure was ordered the following day, as on the ''
Ocean Viking The ''Ocean Viking'' is a former Platform supply vessel used as a humanitarian ship chartered from July 2019 by the SOS Méditerranée association. The vessel The ''Ocean Viking'' was built as a Platform supply vessel and put into service in 198 ...
'', and both the crew and the migrants remain quarantined on land for two weeks. In mid-March 2020, the ship could not leave the shipyard in
Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...
because spare parts were missing and further, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a crew could not be put together due to travel restrictions. The ship left again on 7 June 2020, and on 17 June the activists reportedly recovered 100 migrants 29 nautical miles from Az-Zawiya. Later that day, 65 more were added, followed by 46 the next day. They were apparently part of a larger operation in which
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
n and
Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
n people smugglers sent around 600 people in various boats towards Italy within a few hours. The majority are said to have been intercepted by the Libyan coast guard. The 211 migrants were quarantined on a ferry in
Porto Empedocle Porto Empedocle () is a town and ''comune'' in Italy on the coast of the Strait of Sicily, administratively part of the province of Agrigento. It was named after Empedocles, a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of the city of Akragas (p ...
on 21 June. A migrant who had already shown symptoms when landing tested positive for the coronavirus by the Italian authorities, who then ordered the activists to be quarantined.


Opinions from experts on the law of the sea

Nele Matz-Lück, professor of public law with a focus on the law of the sea at the
University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, (, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a public research university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the ''Academia Holsator ...
, sees a legal gap in the conventions on the law of the sea. The coastal states are not automatically obliged by their sovereignty to let rescued persons ashore, but could instead provide them with medical care on board, for example. Valentin Schatz, Chair of International Maritime Law at the
University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...
says that Italy should have assigned a port. A return of refugees to Libya would be illegal, so it is understandable to head for the nearest port of
Lampedusa Lampedusa ( , , ; ; ) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The ''comune'' of Lampedusa e Linosa is part of the Sicilian province of Agrigento which also includes the smaller islands of Linosa and Lamp ...
. The ship is not designed for a further non-stop voyage to its flag state of the Netherlands. "The law is somewhat more on the part of the NGO, but ultimately the international law of the sea does not regulate how this situation is to be resolved".


2021

From 26 to 28 February 2021, after a seven-month break, the ''Sea-Watch 3'' rescued 317 people from drowning off the Libyan coast. A week earlier, the ship had left the port of the Spanish city of Burriana to patrol the Libyan coast. The Italian coast guard interned the ''Sea-Watch 3'' on 21 March in Augusta. The ship was heavily overloaded when 363 shipwrecked people were rescued on 3 March and had violated regulations when entering Augusta and the crew had contaminated port facilities with hydraulic oil from a crane. During the ship inspection, deficiencies in fire and environmental protection measures were found. A spokeswoman for SeaWatch stated that the allegations were already known from the last internment and were politically motivated.


Film

Sea Watch 3: NDR documentary by filmmakers Nadia Kailouli and Jonas Schreijäg. They accompanied the ''Sea Watch 3'' on the rescue voyage in June 2019 for 21 days until Carola Rackete was arrested. The film was awarded the Grimme Prize 2020.


References

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