MV Doulos Phos

Last updated

MV Doulos Phos in Bintan.jpg
MV Doulos Phos hoisted onto dry land and converted into a hotel in Bintan, Indonesia
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameMedina [1]
Namesake Medina River, Texas
OperatorMallory Steamship Company (1914–1932) Clyde-Mallory Line (1932–1948) [2]
Ordered28 August 1913 [3]
Builder Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company [1]
Yard number176 [1]
Laid down21 January 1914
Launched22 August 1914 [3]
Sponsored byFrances Stuart Semmes
Christened22 August 1914
Acquired29 September 1914 [1]
Commissioned29 September 1914 [3]
FateTransferred to Cia Naviera San Miguel SA, 1948 [3]
Flag of Panama.svgPanama
NameRoma [3]
OperatorCia Naviera San Miguel SA [3]
Acquired1948 [3]
FateSold to Costa Lines, 1953 [3]
Civil Ensign of Italy.svgItaly
NameFranca C [3]
Operator Costa Lines [3]
Port of registry Genoa, Civil Ensign of Italy.svg  Italy [3]
Acquired1953 [3]
FateSold to Gute Bücher für Alle, 1977 [3]
Civil Ensign of Malta.svgMalta
Name
  • Doulos (1977–2010)
  • Doulos Phos (from 2010) [3]
Operator
Port of registry Valletta, Civil Ensign of Malta.svg  Malta [3]
Identification
Fateconverted to a static hotel ship, 2015 [3]
NotesGreek "Doulos" means "Servant", "Doulos Phos" means "Servant of Light"
General characteristics (as built)
Tonnage5,426  GRT
Length427.66 feet (130.35 m)
Beam55.2 feet (16.8 m)
Height54 feet (16 m)
Draught18.2 feet (5.5 m)
Installed powerSingle triple-expansion engine, 4 coal-fired boilers, 4,100 horsepower (3,100 kW) shaft power [4] (Converted to oil 1922)
Speed14 knots (26 km/h)
General characteristics (1949 onwards)
Tonnage
  • 6,822  GRT (1960)
  • 6,549  GRT (1984)
  • 6,818  GT (2009)
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity414
Crew350

MV Doulos Phos is a retired ocean liner, and former cruise ship that held the record of being the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship, serving from 1914 until December 2009. She is now owned by Eric Saw, director and chief executive of BizNaz Resources International Pte Ltd in Singapore. [6] She was previously operated by the German charity Gute Bücher für Alle (Good Books for All), and was used as a floating bookshop and missionary ship. The ship has previously been known as the SS Medina, the SS Roma, the MV Franca C, and the MV Doulos. Doulos ended her final cruise in late 2009 at Singapore, with the ship being handed over to her new owners on 18 March 2010. The ship underwent a three year conversion into a luxury hotel that saw the ship mounted on dry land in nearby Bintan, Indonesia and opened in June 2019. [7]

Contents

Cargo ship era

On 28 August 1913, a contract for two steel freight steamships was signed by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company and the Mallory Steamship Company of the United States. "The vessel will be a single screw steamship of the hurricane deck type with straight stem and elliptical stern, and with deck houses amidship and aft for the crew accommodations...." The original specifications referred to the vessels as hulls No. 175 and No. 176. Hull No. 175 would eventually be named SS Neches and hull No. 176 became SS Medina. [4] (Neches was lost in a collision with a British warship in 1918.) [8] The full contract for the vessels filled a 186-page volume and included the fittings commonly used in a ship for her era and also provision for tropical itineraries; for example, mosquito nets for the crew quarters.

Terrorist attack

On 11 August 1991, during the final night of the Doulos' stop in the southern Philippine port of Zamboanga City, two of her foreign crewmembers were killed when a grenade thrown by members of the Abu Sayyaf Islamist terrorist group [9] exploded on stage during a performance by its Christian volunteers. [10] Four locals were killed [11] and 32 others were injured, including several crew members of the missionary ship. [10]

In 1995, in order to conform to the then new SOLAS regulations, she was fitted with a sprinkler system and combustible wall panels were removed and replaced. This unfortunately meant the loss of many of the wall murals that had been installed by Costa Lines. [12]

In 2006, while in Bahrain, a satellite communication system was installed. [4]

Statistics as MV Doulos [5]
Total visitors21,461,212
Programme attendance3,500,898
Books sold1,513,446
Nautical miles sailed358,121
Total ports visited603
Countries and territories visited104
Different ports visited297

Decommissioning

In 2009, while Doulos was in dry dock in Singapore, a survey conducted by the ship's classification society, RINA, found numerous significant problems with the ship's machinery, structure, and systems that would require work to have been completed by 31 December 2009 for the ship's certificates to be reissued and allow continue sailing. The shipyard servicing the Doulos would not accept the ship for repairs until September 2010; with the cost of the work exceeding 10 million euros, and the limited ministry that the ship would have after the repairs, it was decided to end the Doulos Ministry at the end of 2009, instead of 2010 as originally planned. [4] The ship was offered for scrap at the end of 2009 when her operational certification expired. [4] A caretaker crew remained with Doulos, expecting to sail her to the breakers. [6] [13]

New owners

On 18 March 2010, Doulos escaped the breakers and had a new owner, Mr. Eric Saw, director and chief executive of BizNaz Resources International Pte Ltd in Singapore. [14] She was renamed Doulos Phos (Servant of Light). [14] In 2015, BizNaz formed a joint venture with two other companies with the intention of converting the ship into a luxury hotel. That August the ship was towed out of Singapore to Batam, Indonesia, to be refurbished before moving to Bintan Island to become part of a US$25 million hotel resort. In October 2015 she went into drydock, where her hull was refurbished. [15] Steel reinforcement bracing was added inside her hull to support her weight on dry land. [14] She was then towed to a location adjacent to the Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal. Using a system of pulling cables and air bags, [16] the ship was hoisted onto the promontory point. [17] This marked the end of her career as a floating ship.

Hotel conversion

In February 2016 the ship was officially renamed Doulos Phos, The Ship Hotel and began conversion into a luxury hotel. [18] The conversion is expected to retain the ship's bridge and engine room as part of the Maritime Heritage Museum. Decks A and B are used as the hotel. Originally scheduled to open in late 2016, workers and heavy equipment were still on the site in November 2017. [19] The hotel opened in 2019 with 104 rooms, all with a sea view. [20] The hotel closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and appears to have been reopened since August 2022.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport News Shipbuilding</span> American shipyard

Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the sole designer, builder, and refueler of aircraft carriers and one of two providers of submarines for the United States Navy. Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock and Construction Co. in 1886, Newport News Shipbuilding has built more than 800 ships, including both naval and commercial ships. Located in the city of Newport News, Virginia, its facilities span more than 550 acres (2.2 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean liner</span> Ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another

An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes. The Queen Mary 2 is the only ocean liner still in service to this day.

SS <i>United States</i> 1951 ocean liner

SS United States is a retired ocean liner built between 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title she still holds.

USS <i>Charger</i> Escort carrier

USS Charger (CVE-30) was an escort carrier of the United States Navy during World War II converted from a commercial C3-P&C cargo/passenger liner hull built as Rio de la Plata intended for the Moore-McCormack company's American Republics Line serving the east coast of South America. The ship was requisitioned for conversion to an escort carrier type intended for Royal Navy use and initially commissioned as HMS Charger (D27). Days later the transfer was rescinded with the ship returning to U.S. Navy control to become USS Charger which operated throughout the war as a training ship on the Chesapeake Bay with two ferry missions to Bermuda and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Denny and Brothers</span> Scottish shipbuilding company, 1840 to 1963

William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company.

USS <i>Mizar</i> (AF-12) Cargo ship of the United States Navy

USS Mizar (AF-12) was the United Fruit Company fruit, mail and passenger liner Quirigua that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II.

SS <i>California</i> (1927) 1927 ocean liner

SS California was the World's first major ocean liner built with turbo-electric propulsion. When launched in 1927 she was also the largest merchant ship yet built in the US, although she was a modest size compared with the biggest European liners of her era.

USS <i>Henry R. Mallory</i> American transport for the United States Navy

USS Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280) was a transport for the United States Navy during World War I. She was also sometimes referred to as USS H. R. Mallory or as USS Mallory. Before her Navy service she was USAT Henry R. Mallory as a United States Army transport ship. From her 1916 launch, and after her World War I military service, she was known as SS Henry R. Mallory for the Mallory Lines. Pressed into service as a troopship in World War II by the War Shipping Administration, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-402 in the North Atlantic Ocean and sank with the loss of 272 men—over half of those on board.

SS <i>Carolina</i>

The SS Carolina was a 380-foot-long (120 m) passenger liner; it was one of six vessels sunk on a single day during World War I by the German submarine U-151 on "Black Sunday". The wreck was rediscovered in 1995 by wreck divers John Chatterton and John Yurga.

Bintan Resorts is the name for a resort enclave occupying the northern area of Bintan Island in Indonesia. Established in 1990 as a joint venture between the Indonesian and Singaporean governments, it is located in the village of Sebong Lagoi in the district of Teluk Sebong, Bintan Regency. The enclave is operated by PT Bintan Resort Cakrawala.

SS <i>Antigua</i>

SS Antigua was a United Fruit Company passenger and refrigerated cargo liner completed as one of six nearly identical vessels, three built by Newport News Shipbuilding and three by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, for operation by the company's subsidiary the United Mail Steamship Company. The ship was the first of the ships built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts.

SS Haiti was a passenger and freight ship built for the Colombian Mail Steamship Company built at Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia and delivered 15 December 1932. The ship was renamed briefly Puerto Rico in 1938 and Monterey in 1939 to operate for the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company until requisitioned with transfer of title to the War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 25 September 1942. The ship was then allocated to the U.S. Army for operation under a bareboat agreement as USAT Monterey. In 1943 the ship was assigned to the command at Trinidad to supply bases in Brazil and Ascension Island. After layup in the reserve fleet the ship was sold to Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interlake Steamship Company</span> American freight ship company that operates a fleet on the Great Lakes

The Interlake Steamship Company is an American freight ship company that operates a fleet on the Great Lakes in North America. It is now part of Interlake Maritime Services.

SS <i>Luxembourg Victory</i> Victory ship of the United States

SS Luxembourg Victory was a Victory ship built for the United States during World War II. She was launched by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation on February 28, 1944, and was completed on April 5, 1944. The ship's US Maritime Commission designation was VC2-S-AP3, hull number 90 (V-90). She was built in 101 days under the Emergency Shipbuilding program. The Maritime Commission turned her over to a civilian contractor, the Lykes Brothers SS Company, for operation until the end of World War II hostilities. She was operated under the US Merchant Marine Act for the War Shipping Administration.

SS Stephen R. Mallory was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Stephen R. Mallory, a United States senator from Florida, and the Confederate States Secretary of the Navy during the American Civil War.

SS <i>Panama</i> (1939) American ship

SS Panama was laid down 25 October 1937 as hull number 1467, launched on 24 September 1938 and completed 22 April 1939 at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in Quincy Massachusetts. The ship was given the official number 238343 and was owned and operated by the Panama Railroad Company. The ship was built for 202 single class passengers with a crew of 124. Panama was sister ship to USS Ancon and SS Cristobal.

SS Christopher Newport was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after Christopher Newport, who was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of Susan Constant, the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company, in 1607, on the way to found the settlement at Jamestown, in the Virginia Colony, which became the first permanent English settlement in North America. He was also in overall command of the other two ships on that initial voyage, in order of their size, Godspeed and Discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agwilines Inc</span> Passengers and Shipping Company

Agwilines Inc was a passenger and cargo shipping company of New York City. Agwilines is short for Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Inc. AGWI Lines group operated four main lines in the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. H. Bull Steamship Company</span> American passengers and shipping company

A. H. Bull Steamship Company was a shipping company and passenger liner service founded in New York City in 1902 by Archibald H. Bull (1848-1920). Service started with shipping between New York and Florida. His fleet of ships then added service to other Eastcoast ports. The company is also often called the Bull Lines and the Bull Steamship Line or A. H. Bull & Company. While founded in New York, Bull soon move its headquarter to Peir 5 in Baltimore, Maryland. Bull Lines main Eastcoast ports were: Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, Tampa and Norfolk, Virginia. Oversea ports: Porto Rico, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Hamburg, Bremen, Copenhagen, and West Africa. Bull Steamship Line supported the US war effort for both World War I and World War II, including the loss of ships.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Colton, Tim. "Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News VA" . Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  2. ↑ "Fleet List: Mallory Line / Clyde-Mallory Line". TheShipsList. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Doulos History". Ssmaritime.net. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Lee, Bill. "SS Medina NNS Hull #176...95 Years of Service...and Counting! (2010)" (PDF). Newport News Apprentice Alumni Association. Newport News Apprentice Alumni Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Previous Ships – Doulos". GBA Ships e.V. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  6. 1 2 Kenego, Peter (6 January 2013). "Decking DOULOS PHOS, Part Three". Maritime Matters. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  7. ↑ "Doulos Phos the Ship Hotel" . Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "Fleets of the Mallory Line / Clyde-Mallory Line" . Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  9. ↑ "Abu Sayyaf kidnappings, bombings and other attacks". GMA News. 23 August 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  10. 1 2 Debbie Meroff. "In His Majesty's Service: A Salute to the MV Doulos". OM International. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  11. ↑ Eliza Griswold. "Waging Peace in the Philippines". Smithsonian. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  12. ↑ Goussens, Reuben. "M/V Doulos – Chapter 7 – SOLAS 1995". Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  13. ↑ Kengo, Peter (23 December 2012). "Decking Doulos Phos, Part Two: Doulos". Maritime Matters. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  14. 1 2 3 Lee, Bill (May 2016). "UPDATE – SS MEDINA" (PDF). Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice Alumni. Newport News Apprentice Alumni. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  15. ↑ "Restoration of the MV Doulos Phos" . Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  16. ↑ Chesare, Julia (31 October 2015). "1914-Built DOULOS PHOS on the Beach". Maritime Matters. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "Coming soon..Doulos Phos, The Ship Hotel". Bintan Resorts International Pte. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  18. ↑ "Book ship Doulos turned into hotel on land". Free Malaysia Today News. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  19. ↑ "The Legendary Ship MV Doulos Phos is Stuck in Bintan. Here's the Story (November 30, 2017)". Tribun Batan. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  20. ↑ "Bintan Resorts - Doulos Phos the Ship Hotel" . Retrieved 17 November 2019.

Further reading

1°09′39″N104°18′58″E / 1.160922°N 104.316206°E / 1.160922; 104.316206

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.