The ocean liner that became a floating bookstore

A closer look

Built in 1914—just two years after the Titanic sank—the M.V. Doulos somehow managed to survive two world wars, multiple renamings, and a stint as a luxury cruise ship, only to end up as a massive, floating Christian bookstore. Operated by a German charity, it spent three decades sailing to over 100 countries, hawking half a million books a year to bewildered port cities. Imagine surviving the U-boat threat of the Atlantic just to spend your twilight years smelling intensely of old paper and religious tracts.