Captain Vasilis Gkelis, originally from Dervenochoria, has sailed on 21 different ships with various companies. His longest voyage was aboard the M/V DORIS with Kampanis Shipping Company in 1957, where he served as a sailor and cadet for four consecutive years.
He speaks about the hardships they faced on ships during that era, but emphasizes that “people were very good. We stood by each other to overcome any problem,” he notes. Captain Vasilis also remarks, “To master the craft [of becoming a captain], you had to endure everything.” In other words, to improve and advance, one had to perform many different tasks aboard the ship.
Produced and presented by Antonis Karagiannakis