Born in 1956 in Hamburg, he is ship’s Captain and historian. He managed container ships for Hapag Lloyd until the autumn of 2014. When the sea rescue operation Mare Nostrum ended, he founded, at the age of 59, SOS Mediterranèe, a European civil society organization for the rescue of lives in the Mediterranean Sea. He coordinated the search and rescue team aboard the ship MV Aquarius during the first weeks of activity.