The Doulos

The next day we went through orientation and learned the history of the Doulos. Built in 1914 to be a freighter, it was originally named the Medina. The Doulos had been acquired by the U.S. Coast Guard during WWII. Later in 1948, it had been purchased by the Panamanian company, Cia Naviera, San Miguel SA. The following year it was converted into a migrant ship in La Spezia, Italy and named, Roma. The Roma was then sold in 1952 to Giacomo Costa and renamed the Franca C. The original steam engine was replaced by a more powerful diesel engine. It had then been converted to a luxury liner then purchased in the ‘50s by an Italian company and reconverted into a luxury cruise liner and once again named the Roma. Finally in 1977, GBA (Good Books for All), a non-profit charity organization, purchased the Roma and retrofitted it to be a sailing bookshop. Since its launch in Bremen Germany in 1978 the Doulos has had 21 million visitors and sailed to over 100 countries.

In addition, we received some basic safety instructions for when we were at sea. The full time crew drill with the life boats every Thursday to make sure everything is working order. Our meeting was interrupted by a loud grinding sound as a lifeboat was being lowered by the deck hands (or "Deckies" for short). They dropped into the ocean and sailed away to test the equipment. I wanted to be assigned to THAT job.