Welcome to the ICMM Maritime Refugee Project Vessels page, a growing resource that showcases refugee vessels held within ICMM member museums worldwide. Each vessel tells a powerful story of displacement, survival, and migration by sea. From small boats to larger ships, these vessels preserve the lived experiences of maritime refugees. This list continues to grow, and we welcome further contributions. To suggest a vessel for inclusion, please contact Christina Connett Brophy (ccbrophy@sdmaritime.org) and help expand this important collection.
Australian National Maritime Museum (Sydney, Australia)
Tự Do (Freedom in Vietnamese)
The Vietnamese refugee vessel Tự Do (Freedom) arrived in Australia on 21 November 1977 with 31 voyagers. It was built by Vietnamese businessman Tan Tanh Lu specifically to flee from Vietnam after the reunification of his homeland under communist rule. The vessel is one of only three surviving “boat people” vessels in Australia.
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Image: ANMM collection, photographer: Andrew Frolows
Museu Marítim de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)
Patapum
Papatum is a living testimony of the drama of the refugees in the last weeks of the Spanish Civil War. It was one of the first boats built for tourism purposes in 1931 and was based in Port de la Selva, near the French border. In February 1939 it was used to flee by sea to France, when people escaped from the Francoist advancing troops. After the war it was recovered and was returned to its owners, a family who gifted the boat to the museum in 2008. At present, it is an operating boat sailed by volunteers.
Image: Museu Marítim de Barcelona / Diego Yriarte
Dandara
Built in Morocco, North Africa, the vessel Dandara is an example of traditional Mediterranean shipbuilding. Little is know about this wooden ‘patera’ (refugee) vessel at present due to its irregular acquisition into the museum. It is a testimony of the first waves of present-day refugees. The vessel is currently waiting for restoration work to be carried out.
Image: Museu Marítim de Barcelona
El Bitoque
Also built in Morocco, North Africa (like Dandara), the vessel El Bitoque is another example of traditional Mediterranean shipbuilding. Little is know about this wooden ‘patera’ (refugee) vessel at present due to its irregular acquisition into the museum. It is a testimony of the first waves of present-day refugees. The vessel is restored and displayed in the permanent exhibition space of the museum.
Image: Museu Marítim de Barcelona
Maritime Museum of San Diego (San Diego, United States of America)
Berkeley
Built in 1898, Berkeley carried up to 1,700 passengers across San Francisco Bay for 60 years. She played a heroic role in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, ferrying thousands of disaster refugees to safety. She was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1990 and a California State Historic Landmark in 2000.
Image: Ferryboat Berkeley in San Francisco Bay service, circa 1940. Maritime Museum of San Diego Collection, photograph number P-01299.TIF. Photographer unknown.
PCF 816 Swift Boat
PCF 816 Swift Boat, a Vietnam-era Patrol Craft Fast served as a key training vessel at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, preparing thousands of Swift Boat sailors for their roles in the Brown Water Navy. Veterans are the docents and stewards of PCF 816, connecting the museum with the “Vietnam Boat People” refugee community in California.
Image: PCF 816 on San Diego Bay. Published by the Maritime Museum of San Diego, 2014. Photographer Mark Gallant
Mu.MA Institution of Maritime and Migration Museums – Galata Maritime Museum (Genoa, Italy)
Unnamed vessel. The fishing boat was registered in the port of Sfax (Tunisia) as No. 9493.
This unnamed boat has been on display since 2011 within the Memory and Migration exhibition of the Galata Maritime Museum. It was used by migrants fleeing from the “Arab Spring” on the route from Sfax to Lampedusa. It was donated by the Municipality of Lampedusa and the Civil Protection. The boat is a wooden “fishing goiter”, with a 5 Horsepower outboard motor.
Image: Mu.MA Istituzione dei musei del mare e delle migrazioni
Swedish National Maritime Museum – Sjohistoriska (Stockholm, Sweden)
The Tirpitz
In 1941, the Estonian fishing boat Tirpitz was destroyed by Soviet gunfire. It was secretly repaired, and in February 1944, a family of 13 fled to Sweden using the boat. The remaining fragments, marked by repairs, testify to the risks taken to escape Soviet occupation.
Photo: Anneli Karlsson, The Maritime Museum. CC-By
Swedish Naval Museum – Marinmuseum (Karlskrona, Sweden)
Unknown Estonian Refugee Boat
In 1982, a diver rediscovered an unidentified Estonian boat near the naval base in Karlskrona, first seen in 1944 while carrying Baltic refugees to Sweden. At that time, the Swedish Navy assisted in rescuing refugees in distress at sea. The boat was raised and acquired by the Naval Museum, but the names of those who arrived on it remain unknown.
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Photo: Mattias Billemyr, The Naval Museum. CC BY-SA
Western Australian Museum (Australia)
Bremen (SIEV 647)
Bremen arrived in Geraldton, Western Australia in April 2013 with 66 Tamil asylum seekers aboard. They had been at sea for over a month, when they were intercepted by authorities just metres from the Australian mainland. The men, women, and children on board were sent to undisclosed detention centres or returned to Sri Lanka within two weeks.
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Image: WA Museum