The Doulos, the world's oldest ocean- going passenger ship, may live on

It appears that the world's oldest ocean-faring passenger ship may once again avoid the scrap yard. A buyer that intends to preserve the 95-year-old, Newport News-built MV Doulos made a last-minute offer to purchase the ship this week from the German charity GBA Ships, organization officials confirmed Friday. The Doulos' tenure as an ocean-faring vessel, however, may be over.

 
The buyer, which the charity declined to name pending the finalization of the contract, will use the ship as a "floating facility," permanently berthed alongside a pier at an undisclosed location. Organization officials said last month that it was negotiating with buyers from the Philippines, Singapore and South Africa. They said the ship could be used as a training center for mariners, a charity mission or a museum. Once the ship is floated to its new home, the Doulos will no longer sail. "We have accepted the offer, and (our) broker is working on the memorandum of agreement," said Ken Miller, a GBA Ships spokesman in Germany. "We hope that can be signed early next week."  Miller declined to reveal the purchase price. The ship has been laid up in Singapore since late last year, requiring as much as $18 million in renovations to meet new international requirements. GBA Ships said in February that it could no longer afford to keep the vessel, and unless a buyer emerged by the first week of March, the charity would be forced to sell the Doulos for scrap. As weeks passed, it appeared more and more likely the Doulos was headed for its final chapter. Built in 1914 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. as an onion courier called the SS Medina, the 421-foot vessel has been saved from the scrap yards on at least three occasions. For several years, the ship plied the Atlantic coast, delivering dry cargo from Maine to Panama. It served as a military supply ship for both world wars. In 1950, it was converted into a passenger vessel called the SS Roma and ferried religious pilgrims from the United States to Italy for the Roman Catholic Holy Year.