Stirring experiences lie behind us
Dear supporters, the first deployment crew has now arrived back in our home port on Licata. Behind the six activists lie two stirring experiences that underline the fact that we are needed in the Mediterranean. On March 12, we received our first distress call and immediately set out to search for the ship in distress. The following day, the crew of the TROTAMAR III were able to stabilize around 100 people on an unseaworthy, completely overloaded boat by handing out life jackets. After a few hours, the civilian rescue ship OCEAN VIKING from the NGO SOS Méditerranée reached the scene and took the people on board.
Just one day later, the crew of the TROTAMAR III found another boat in distress, drifting in the Mediterranean with many people on board and unable to maneuver. Life jackets were immediately issued to stabilize the situation. It was a rubber dinghy with more than 50 people, including 4 small children, on board. For hours, we made emergency calls to the relevant authorities and demanded their rescue – without any helpful response. It got dark and the situation remained unclear. Late in the evening, an Italian coastguard vessel suddenly appeared and took the people on board.
This first mission of a total of nine planned this year is now coming to an end. The crew was able to help numerous refugees on two boats in distress despite our limited resources. We are very grateful for all the support we have received over the last few weeks.
In just under two weeks, the TROTAMAR III will set sail again to support civilian sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean. We are sailing for freedom of movement for all, against Fortress Europe. Our missions are financed by donations. Each mission costs us around 12,000 euros.
Can you help make the next mission possible?
Back in Licata
An eventful deployment is coming to an end and we are back in Licata. After we were unable to go out into the Mediterranean Sea for a long time at the beginning of the deployment due to a storm, events came full circle last week: on the way to another sea emergency, we found the…
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Yesterday evening at 8.19 pm. we found a wooden boat with 52 people on board. The engine had stopped working and the boat was unable to maneuver. In the darkness, it quickly became clear that there was an immediate danger of life of the people on board if conditions got only just a bit worse.…
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Yesterday evening, the TROTAMAR III left the port of Licata in Sicily and set course for the search and rescue zone. On board is a well-prepared crew of six under skipper Matthias and co-skipper Ina. After storms and extreme rainfall, the waves and wind south of Sicily are now manageable and we are now ready…
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Today, the crew of the current deployment set sail for the first time totest sail with the Trotamar III. Off the coast ofLicata, they practiced various manoeuvres with the dinghy.We use the dinghy to make contact with people in distress at sea,provide them with life jackets or bring people on board of our ship in…
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Before we set sail, our sailing boat, the Trotamar III, has to be prepared for the deployment. Yesterday, for example, our crew in Sicily installed a fresh water pump, worked on the solar panels and installed a new AIS device (a device for receiving and sending ship data). But it’s not just the technical equipment…
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Toki, Alex, Olli, Friedrich, our skipper Matthias and our co-skipper Ina are going on our ninth and last deployment this year. Over the next few weeks, the six of them will be supporting civilian sea rescue in the Mediterranean Sea on the Trotamar III However, accompanying people on their way to Europe is not something…
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The crew of the Trotamar III has disembarked all rescued people safely on Lampedusa.Our sailing ship was underway to Lampedusa for almost a day – with 62 people on board, rescued from an unseaworthy rubber boat on Tuesday evening. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Sea Eye 5 from @seaeye_org was able to…
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Yesterday the crew of the Trotamar III received a distress call for a boat in the Tunisian Search & Rescue zone and set off in search of the overcrowded rubber boat. At 7pm, the crew found the boat with over 90 people on board. At this point, it was already dark. Water had gotten into…
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The Trotamar III is anchored off Linosa, where the crew continues to prepare the upcoming deployment. With the dinghy, crew members practise making contact with a migrant vessel, distributing life jackets and rescuing unconscious people.On board the Trotamar III is an extensive range of rescue equipment with which the crew can come to the aid…
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