The official name of this Egyptian vessel is 'Alhadj Djumaa'. Alhadj means a wise old man who has been on pilgrimage, and Djumaa means Friday. It departed Egypt on the 25th of July 2013, headed for Lampedusa. It's only 12m by 4m, but it carried a staggering 282 passengers – 217 Eritreans and 65 Ethiopians. As far as we know, they all made it safely across the ocean.

The boat was seized the day after departure by the Italian authorities, who later gave it to us.

In between the oil barrels, life jackets and clothes left behind on board, we found a book of sheet music for guitar. One other line of text is written on the back of the vessel: road to freedom, way of peace.

We don’t know much about the history of our smaller boat, except that it was picked up by the Italian coast guard on August 29, 2014, about 18 miles southwest of the Sicilian town of Portopalo. We call it "Hedir", the word that is written on the side, which means 'thunder' or 'roar' or 'powerful woman' in Arabic. Our only other clue to its history was a pair of diving goggles which were left on board.

At just 6m long, it's well suited for slipping through the canals and under bridges. Since all new vessels in Amsterdam have to be electric, we refitted this former refugee boat, so now it moves along silently.