ssMaritime.net
MV Doulos
“A
Ship Like no Other”
By Reuben Goossens
An American 1914
built ship that sailed 95 Years into History
SS
Medina (1914-1948) was sold and renamed: SS
Roma (1948-1952)
MS
Franca C (1952-1977)
- MV Doulos - (1977-2010)
Doulos
Phos –
(2010 - ) now located permanently in Singapore
Chapter One
Part Two – 1940 - 1948
--SS Medina--
SS Medina continued to ply the American West
Coast until World War Two, when she was required once again by the US Coast
Guard to sail under the command of the US Navy. She was refitted and made ready
to transport warplanes, tanks, supply trucks and weaponry between the US and
the UK and other Northern European countries, thus she served once again as a
supply ship sailing frequently across the U-Boat infested North Atlantic to
Britain and Scandinavia, yet unlike so many other much faster ships as those
who sailed on her has told the author, “Medina the lucky ship sailed
through two World Wars into some of the most dangerous waters and came home
totally unharmed!”
SS Medina is seen here as part of the US Coast Guard on January 21, 1942
From
the author’s Private collection
However, Medina was involved in a several
accidents, one being with a Canadian corvette class naval vessel and this story
as well as another incident is included - See the Robert W. Hicks story below
the USS Williamsburg story.
SS
Medina and the *USS Williamsburg Iceland experience - 1942
USS Williamsburg seen later during her career – as President
Truman boards in 1946
Photograph from the National Archives and Records
Administration (USA)
On September 15, 1942, the US Navy gunboat *USS
Williamsburg sailing alone battled her way through a fierce gale that caused
both depth charge tracks to spring free and it tumbled three depth charges into
the sea whilst she rolled and pitched violently in during this violent storm.
Then, she received dispatch orders that she had to rendezvous with the merchant
freighter SS Medina and screen her at Hofn located at
southwest of Iceland, whilst she was unloading her precious cargo. USS
Williamsburg continued, but she did not have a sonar as it had broken during
the storm as well as both depth charge tracks having sprung and not having a
radar. Thus she experienced difficulty finding the Medina but she finally made contact with her
at Berusford on the 18th. With the cargo having been
unloaded the Medina and USS Williamsburg
commenced their voyage to Reykjanes, southeast of Iceland,
arriving on the 19th. The Williamsburg
was discharged from her duties with the SS Medina.
*USS Williamsburg – was originally a luxury private yacht MS
Aras was built on the Kennebec
River in Bath, Maine USA, by “Bath Iron Works” in 1930.
She was laid down on March
19, 1930, launched on December 8, 1930, and delivered on January 15, 1931
to her owner, a multi-millionaire who was a wood-pulp industrialist, Mr. Hugh
J. Chisholm. The luxurious Aras was a good 1,805 tons and had a length of
243.9ft; her beam was 36ft; and a draught was 14ft. Her two Winton diesels
generated 1,100 NHP giving her a
speed of 13.5 knots. The U.S. Navy obtained Aras on April 24, 1941 and
renamed her USS Williamsburg. She was
refitted to become a gunboat at the Brewer Dry-dock and Repair Co,
Brooklyn New York.
She entered service. She was officially commissioned on October 7, 1941. After the
War the USS Williamsburg became
the Presidential Yacht and served two Presidents, Truman and Eisenhower.
US Navy Gunner Robert W. Hicks serves on SS Medina in 1943
Nineteen year old Private Robert W. Hicks was
a gunner’s mate in the US Navy and he wrote an interesting story in
relation to his time when he served on board SS Medina for three months during
World War Two.
Gunner’s Mate Robert Hicks seen in 1943
Photograph
provided by & © Robert. W. Hicks USA
Robert was attached to the Medina in April 15, 1943 and he served on her
until December 22, making a number of Trans Atlantic voyages on her. He was one
of the twenty six of the gun crew on the Medina
thus frequently stationed out in ferocious weather conditions whilst crossing
the Atlantic as he was aboard during a period
of what is generally considered as period that throws you considerable cold and
rough seas at times.
The following is how Robert Hicks remembers
his time on the SS Medina during World War II!
“Our quarters on the SS Medina were
below deck, even below the water line. Our onboard weaponry was as follows; we
had a 5”/38 calibre gun on the aft deck and a 3”/59 calibre gun on
the forward deck. In addition there were two 20mm guns, one located on each
side of the Bridge and were there especially for air attacks.
Images of SS Medina’s Guns:
5”/38-cal gun located on the aft deck
US
Navy photo – Provided by Robert Hicks
20mm guns like these were located one located on each side of the
Bridge
US
Navy photo – Provided by Robert Hicks
This
is a 3”/50-cal gun like the one that was located forward on the SS Medina
Photo
Mr. Ed Schnepf - USA
– Provided by Robert Hicks
Our first voyage sailed out of New York in convoy and we headed across the Atlantic for
Liverpool and Birmingham.
Many of us were seasick on the first days, but we soon got over that as you get
used to the rolling of the ship eventually. But, what did annoy us most was
when the emergency officer in charge decided to call an emergency drill in the
middle of the night whilst we had a short sleep, although we did have them day
and night throughout the voyages. Whilst on watch we had to wear our life
jackets at all times of course due to the frequent rough weather. Upon arrival
in Britain
we unloaded a ship full of warplanes, trucks, bombs and other weaponry, etc.
However, the voyage back was very much more eventful for whilst on the Western
Atlantic for some reason we collided with the Canadian corvette HMCS The Pas,
and the Corvette was badly damaged and her crew did have a number of casualties
including several really bad ones, but the Medina had only slight damage, thus
we continued to New York and upon arrival she went into dry-dock for some minor
repairs.”
HMCS The Pas - Collision at Sea
HMCS The Pas
seen at St. Margaret's Bay, N.S. - November 11, 1942
Ken
Macpherson / Naval Museum
of Alberta
Canadian corvette HMCS The Pas was badly
damaged in collision with the SS Medina in the Western
Atlantic on July 21, 1943, while escorting a convoy ON.192, but she
was able to continue and was under repair at Halifax and Shelburne until early
October. There was a report stating that two of HMCS The Pas’ crew had
been killed. SS Medina was not damaged due to her strong steel hull and she
also continued on her voyage to New
York.
We return to Robert
Hicks’ story.
“In September we made another return
voyage to Britain
delivering further armaments and it was besides constantly avoiding U-Boats, it
was rather an uneventful trip.
Then on October 3, we departed for our third
voyage and this time it was in the largest convoy we had to date, as there were
some 73 ships, which were bound for the United Kingdom, Murmansk or Russia,
although Medina was bound for England. Tragically during this voyage many ships
in our convoy were sunk by U-Boats, but the good old Medina
survived and arrived safely in Birmingham
where we unloaded our cargo in five short days. We left Birmingham in a smaller convoy of 18 ships
and headed back for the United stated and arrived home safe and well from what
turned out to be one of our shorter voyages.
My final and fourth voyage on the Medina took somewhat
longer and we departed on October 30 and we did not return until December 22. I
recall we left New York
with a full load of bombs, up on deck there were four Army tanks and two large
supply trucks. This time the convoy included 60 ships, we had air and ship
patrols for two days, however, due to very rough weather on the North Atlantic
the Medina could not keep up with the faster ships in the convoy, thus we
became a strangler in the convoy and we generally sailed all alone, which was
obviously very dangerous! We arrived in the UK
and called in at Plymouth then at Liverpool. After two weeks of unloading a shipload of
good for the war effort, we were ready to head back to New York, this time with a convoy of 20
ships. But as it so often happened, we broke away from the convoy and sailed
alone.
However, as we were approaching New York on a
dark night considering there was no moon and no stars the Medina somehow
collided with another vessel hitting her just aft of her mid section. We put a
large hole in her that included some of the sleeping quarters of her crew, but
none of her crew ended up in the water. As I remember our merchant crew offered
assistance but the other ship refused help. We reversed our engines and pulled
away and continued on our trip to New
York. The other ship was not damaged sufficiently and
thus it able to leave the scene of the accident and continue its voyage. The Medina had had hardly any
damage to her bow. We arrived back in New
York on December 22, 1943 and at that point I was
officially detached from the SS Medina.
My time on the Medina was quite good and it was an
interesting experience. The food aboard was very good really as we had a choice
of foods having a different menu at every meal. Although the work on board
could be quite hard, but that was to be expected, as our duties were four hours
on and eight hours off. Then I recall the times that we sailed through some
pretty rough weather conditions, when we suffered some extreme cold and massive
seas, but thankfully we had been issued with heavy clothes to cope with the
extremes and I mean extremes, like ice building up on the railings. Yet, even
with the warm clothing, it was still freezing whilst we were on watch!
These were the kind of weather conditions encountered on the Medina
US
Navy photo – Provided by Robert Hicks
Four years ago (2006) I sent for the Captains
log of the Medina through the Archives in Washington D.C.
for the duration I was on board, yet I found nothing in the ships log about the
first accident we were involved in during our first voyage.
Robert and Mrs Hicks photographed in December 2006 – looking
great for a young pair!
Photograph
provided by & © Robert Hicks - USA
The Medina
stood up very well in all the storms we went trough in the North
Atlantic and surprisingly there were no U-Boat attacks, she was
the lucky ship! I am glad that the Medina
has gone onto better things and continued to sail the oceans of the world for a
good 95 years.”
Robert W. Hicks – Palm
Bay, FL. U.S.A.
(86
years young!)
PS: For
interest, Robert and his wife are licensed radio operators in Palm Bay Florida
and their call letters are: KN4LK & KC4AoL if you wish to contact
them.
SS Medina to be Sold
After World War II, SS Medina had by now
served in two World Wars and returned to an uncertain future. All too soon,
this thirty four year old freighter was laid up in 1948 and was placed on the market.
It had been expected that she would be purchased by one of the ship breakers
and broken up, but amazingly her future proved to be quite secure for this ship
would not only survive but sail under various guises well into the 21st
Century!
SS Medina seen at her prime
Thank
you to the Jonathan V. Niesling collection - USA
As her long history proves, she was never
accosted by the many U-Boats that hunted down cargo and other ships sailing the
Atlantic, whilst many other ships in convoys never made it as they were
torpedoed and sunk, for the Medina, as it is said, was “The lucky
ship!” She even collided with other ships causing damage to these ships,
yet her thick strong steel bow and hull showed little to no damage.
This ship was going to prove that she was one
ship that would outlast every other ship on the seven seas and she would soon
become a brand new kind of ship with a new identity and life and she would end
up sailing the globe many times over right through until December 2009, having
had well over 22 million people walking her decks!
SS Medina is without doubt the world most
amazing ship. It is recorded that the workers on the SS Titanic at some stage
painted on her hull “Even God cannot sink her.” Well sadly we all
know the truth and what happened to her. Due to man’s greed and
stupidity; she went down on her maiden voyage to New York, with so many tragic and needless
deaths! However, with a rather small and what seemed to be an insignificant
ship, the fruit and vegetable freighter and US Coast Guard Supply Ship in two
World Wars, SS Medina would outlast every major passenger liner on earth!
Having had a transformation into a passenger ship she would eventually become
in her latter life a Missionary ship the MV Doulos and the saying on board was
that “Only God keeps this ship afloat” and I believe that He
certainly must have, for this ship is indeed one of a kind, the most historic
ship still afloat today!
This story contains much more about this
amazing ship and you can follow her story and her transformation in Chapter
Two.
Go
to Chapter Two … From Onions to Passengers – SS Roma 1948
– 1953
Return
to the Author’s – MV Doulos “A Ship Like No Other” Main Index
PLEASE
NOTE:
Doulos was
decommissioned by OM Ships in December 2009 whilst she was in Singapore
Read my … “MV Doulos
Preservation Campaign” page for details
…
on how my campaign saved
her for the future to become the Doulos Phos.
***************************************************
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pages are: 1. By the author. 2. From
the author’s private collection. 3. As provided by Shipping
Companies and private photographers or collectors. 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
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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
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photographs concerned, unless the image is part of their private collection.
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