ssMaritime.net
“A SHIP
LIKE NO OTHER”
By Reuben Goossens
SS Medina
American 1914 built - SS Medina sailed 95 Years into History as the MV Doulos!
SS
Medina (1914-1948)
MS
Franca C (1952-1977)
- MV Doulos - (1977-2010)
Doulos Phos
– (2010 - ) Located permanently in
Doulos
in
Including
her final Asian ports & her decommissioning in
As Holly Suffron the
ships reporter said “Pastel clouds, along with a multiplicity of buildings
and supporters welcomed the Doulos into Cunningham Pier in

MV Doulos berthed at the Cunningham Pier Geelong
Photograph by & © 2008 Andrew MacKinnon
As Doulos sailed out of
Andrew MacKinnon was fortunate to sail on
Doulos as the guest of Pilot Captain Neal Oxley, as the Doulos sailed to
Port Phillip Heads on Monday the 29th of September 2008 and he returned back to
shore on the Pilot boat. The following photographs were all taken by Andrew
during his special experience on the Doulos’ first and last call to
I hereby wish to thank Andrew MacKinnon for making the following photographs available to ssMaritime for they will be greatly appreciated by all who love this fine and historic ship for many years to come! However please note that these photographs are Copyright © 2008 Andrew MacKinnon and that they cannot be copied or reproduced without written consent.

As the Doulos slowly slips away from Cunningham Pier, Geelong Pilot Captain Neal Oxley seen on the left and Doulos’ ship’s master, Captain Ashley McDonald just behind him, overseeing the manoeuvre.

With the helmsman just out of sight on the far right, we see telegraph showing full ahead as the Doulos is underway sailing at 11 around knots.

Here is a fine view of Arthurs Seat as we approached the Hovel Pile off Rosebud. At first it was hard to see, but once a little rain had passed, we could clearly see it.

Doulos always has a well-packed foredeck, complete with a small fleet of vans to travel about in when in port

MV Doulos
seen at sea bound for
Photograph by & © 2008 Andrew MacKinnon
2
–

Doulos
berthed at
Photograph by & © 2008 - Yi-An Neoh
The Doulos arrived in Port Albany Wharf 1, at

A fine stern View of the Doulos at sunrise
Photograph by & © 2008 - Yi-An Neoh
At the official opening his Worship the Mayor
Milton Evans of
However, on the negative side, unlike in every other port in the world and whilst the Doulos visited Brisbane, Sydney and Geelong in Albany Doulos’ sewage waste had to be trucked away at an incredible expense, considering the ship is but a charity organisation. Why did this happen? It was because the treatment used on the ships sewage system was not recognized by the WA government, even though it is fine with the rest of the world! Fremantle would again cause the same problems, more about that later.

Doulos’ mini busses lined up at
Photograph by & © 2008 - Yi-An Neoh
During her enjoyable but rather short visit in

A fine early morning bow view of the Doulos in
Photograph by & © 2008 - Yi-An Neoh
3 –
Fremantle/Perth –

The Doulos berthed at Fremantle
Photograph by Andrea-Choi – © 2008 OM Ships International
The Doulos arrived in Fremantle on 10 October and is berthed at Berth C at Victoria Quay. Present at the official opening was his the Mayor of Fremantle Mr. Peter Tagliaferri and Honourable Minister for Culture & the Arts, Mr. John Day.
Her first few days in port were difficult to
say the least as port authorities, as it was in
Comment.
It is true that the Doulos is an old ship, but
I can tell you that she is in far better condition than many modern ships that
Fremantle allow into their harbour. I sailed on the P&O liner MV Oriana
last year and her maintenance was nothing short from atrocious, but it was well
hidden. Out of 50 nights, we were without air-conditioning for 35 nights and
suffered every night, there were toilets out of order all over the ship and many
were never fixed during the cruise, and yet this ship was only built in 1995.
However, in spite of the the obvious signs of
neglect, Fremantle had no problem with her, but the difference is that she
injects well over 500 million dollars into the local community during her eight
hour visit, and that makes all the difference! Yet the Doulos which is spotless
and superbly maintained and accepted in every port around the world and

Early morning in Fremantle
Photograph by Andrea-Choi – © 2008 OM Ships International
During her first 12 open days the Doulos received some 12,412 visitors to the book exhibition alone, in addition there were those who did the ship tour as well as those who attended the various conferences onboard. From reports from various staff members, they are having a wonderful time and meeting some great new and some old friends!
By the time Doulos departed Fremantle on
November 29 her stay had been a tremendous success with some 26,823 visitors
boarding the Doulos to visit the book fair, attend conferences and other
programmes as well as the ships tours. Book sales were reported to have done
quite well and over all, the Doulos and her crew told me that they had a
wonderful time in Fremantle and they just loved their time in both

Sent
in by a supporter but the *photographer is unknown
*Please
see the photo notes at bottom of page
4 - Ports after Australia & Lifeboat Drill at Sea
DILI,
Lifeboat drill at sea.
Whilst the Doulos was at sea along the Western
Australian coast sailing the Indian Ocean, bound for

Doulos’ ever graceful bow as we see a port side lifeboat lowered and several in the water
Photograph by Andrea-Choi – © 2008 OM Ships International

As you can see from the photos above and below all lifeboats are lowered into the sea
and each is filled with the ships crew
Photograph by Andrea-Choi – © 2008 OM Ships International

Photograph by Andrea-Choi – © 2008 OM Ships International

Photograph by Andrea-Choi – © 2008 OM Ships International
“
After the Doulos departed East Timor she
headed for
I received the photograph below from Chief Engineer Dominic Bothello and I am very grateful to him and his wonderful family! The work was a great success and the Doulos is ready for a further few years at sea.
Internally her boilers have been upgraded as has much in the engine room and other parts of the ship. Although there have been Singaporean workers from the shipyards assisting the work, but the volunteer crew, from the Chief Engineer down to the Deck Hand is a credit to the ship for each works in combination to keep this ship operating perfectly and looking the way she does, and sailing the globe for over 94 years without any major mishaps. Mind you, being a Christian ship, you will also be told, that there is not only a great deal of prayer on board the ship, but by those who support the ship worldwide, and you can join that support team if you are part of the Church! See the note at the bottom of the page.
Her ports of call:
After
A stormy voyage from
The voyage from the

Stormy
weather
Provided by Sven Benseler
© 2009 OM Ships
Someone else wrote, “huge waves kept breaking over the bow hitting the foc’s’le and it caused some damage due to the strength of the wind and the huge seas, which also resulted in the ship arriving some seven hours late.”
Apparently many of the Douloid’s were sea sick whilst going through going through a type 8 seas, something we certainly so not see very often. As Gary Barto stated, “It was really spectacular and awesome to see God’s power in the sea. We got drenched if we went out on deck. The captain declared the outside front of the ship off limits for safety purposes.” Needless to say that the dinning room was not filled like its usual self during these days. Happily this kind of weather does not happen often and as most douloid’s sign on never having been to sea most get their sea leg’s in a short time.
Doulos arrived a little late on April 2 and
remained there until the 29th. There will be two more ports in
Her next stop was Sihanoukville
MV Doulos arrived in
On February 25, the Chief Purser on board the Seven Seas Voyager sent me a number of photographs of the Doulos which was berthed just beside the Singapore Cruise Centre, and she looked superb. His photo can be seen on the “MV Doulos Campaign page.”
For further details regarding what happened to her being sold, I suggest that you read about her future as she has now been sold on the MV Doulos Campaign page.

Doulos
looking gleaning white with her blue boot topping and red hull working in
perfect harmony
Whilst in
Photograph © sent by: ex
Chief Engineer Dominic Bothello
|
|
Oct
13th, 2009 |
|
February,
2010 |
|
|
|
Oct
7th, 2009 |
|
Oct
13th, 2009 |
|
|
|
Sep
24th, 2009 |
|
Oct
7th, 2009 |
|
|
|
Aug
29th, 2009 |
|
Sep
21st, 2009 |
|
|
|
Jul
29th, 2009 |
|
Aug
24th, 2009 |
|
|
|
Jul
10th, 2009 |
|
Jul
28th, 2009 |
Conclusion of Doulos’ final Australian voyage
This page
concludes the 2008 Doulos’ final Australian visit, and I am so pleased that
I was able to spend almost a month onboard and sailing down to
Reuben Goossens
Pastor, Maritime
Historian & author
ssMaritime &
Go to Part Ten - Doulos
Deck Plan – These are current & up to date deck
plans
Or return to “A Ship Like No Other” Main Index
PLEASE NOTE:
MV Doulos
was decommissioned by OM Ships in
whilst she was in
and how we saved her for
the future as the MV Doulos Phos.
***************************************************
If you have enjoyed this feature and you feel you might have something of interest to add, be it a story or some photographs, I would appreciate hearing from you!
Use the Back button on
your browser or Close the Page to return to the previous page
alternatively go to our ssMaritime.com INDEX for a
listing of some 260 ships
Who is the Author of ssMaritime?
Reuben Goossens commenced in Passenger Shipping industry in May 1960
Email the author – at:
PLEASE NOTE: I receive hundreds of
requests for Passenger/Crew Lists and Sailing Schedules. I hereby wish
to advise that I am unable to assist due to time restrains and as most
shipping companies have long gone these lists/schedules are no longer
available. I regret to advise that any request for these will no longer be
answered regardless of the circumstances presented!
ssMaritime.net
Also visit …
Discover almost 300 Classic Passenger liners
By the same author
Photographs on ssMaritime and ssmaritime.net are: 1. By the author. 2. From the author’s private collection. 3. As provided by Shipping Companies and private photographers. Credit is given to all contributors. However, there are photographs provided to me without details provided regarding the photographer concerned. I hereby invite if owners of these images would be so kind to make them-selves known to me, that due credit may be given. I know what it is like, I have seem a multitude of my own photographs on other sites, yet they either refuse to give me credit and even refuse to remove them, knowing full well that there is no legal comeback when it comes to the net. However, let us show the charlatans up and do the right thing at all times and give credit where credit is due! Note: I do not credit those who send me photos as they are not the owners of the photographs concerned, unless the image is part of their private collection.
This notice covers all pages, although, we have done our best to ensure that all photographs are duly credited and that this notice is displaced on each page, that is, when a page is updated!
ssMaritime.net is © Copyright - 2010 Reuben Goossens - All Rights Reserved
Please Note: This work is owned, protected under the International © copyright laws and the property of Reuben Goossens of ssmaritime.net. No part of this work including any of the images shown may be copied or reproduced by any means or reproduced by any format, be it for private or commercial usage, without prior written permission from the author. info@ssmaritime.com.
Counter since April 2005