OM’s Ship Ministry is celebrating 50 years of service at sea. 

The pioneering vessel, Logos, and her volunteer crew left a shipyard in Rotterdam on 18 February 1971. They were bound for London, where the refitted ship was shown to supporters of the venture and loaded with literature for her maiden voyage to India.

In the five decades since, the ministry’s four vessels have covered enough nautical miles to circumnavigate the globe five times; with crew having welcomed almost 49 million people up the gangways and reached out to perhaps as many more again on shore.