Carola Rackete  Carola Rackete (; born 8 May 1988 in Preetz, Germany) is a German ship captain who works for the German sea rescue organisation Sea-Watch. In June of 2019, she was arrested for docking a migrant rescue ship without authorization in the port of Lampedusa, Italy. Rackete was born in Preetz, near Kiel, Germany. She graduated high school in 2007, then studied at Maritime School at Jade University of Applied Sciences in Elsfleth, earning a Bachelor of Science in nautical science and maritime transport in 2011. The B.Sc. in Nautical science at Jade University meets the written examination requirement for the captain's licence of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany, which is later acquired on the basis of professional experience only. In 2018 she earned a master's degree in conservation management from Edge Hill University in England. Rackete was a navigation officer for two years in scientific expeditions in the Arctic and the Antarctic for the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research. For a short period of time, she worked as a conservation volunteer within the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Later, Carola Rackete worked as safety officer for Silversea Cruises, an ultra-luxury cruise line headquartered in Monaco. She later worked as second-officer on ships owned by Greenpeace and the British Antarctic Survey. As of June 2019 Rackete captained the "Sea-Watch 3", a vessel of 645 gross tonnage, which flies a Dutch flag. On 12 June, the ship picked up 53 migrants in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast. "Sea-Watch 3" rejected an offer to dock at Tripoli, which is considered unsafe by the EU and the humanitarian organizations, and headed toward Lampedusa. According to a map they posted, and also to a report by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and other NGOs this was the nearest safe harbor per maritime law. On 14 June, Italy closed its ports to migrant rescue ships. Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini refused to allow the ship to dock until other European nations had agreed to take the migrants. Ten of the migrants, including children, pregnant women, and those who were ill, were allowed to disembark. On 28 June, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal offered to take the migrants. On 29 June, without authorization, Rackete decided to dock. The motivation for this was that according to her the passengers were exhausted.