Captain Giannoulis P. Moraitis (Merchant Marine) was born on the 16 December 1934 in Andros. First born son of a seafaring family with 3 siblings Constantine, Charikleia, and Kassandra. Petros G. Moraitis (1872-1957), was his father, one of the first educated ship engineers with a Chief Engineer’s degree from the Cardiff Board of Trade (1902). Katina Moraitis, nee Andreou, from Lamyra of Andros, was his mother, that had 4 brothers all of which were Captains in the Merchant Marine.

He graduated from the Embiriceio Gymnasium of Andros in June 1931. In September of the same year he embarked on a cargo ship for the first time. He completed a four-year service on cargo ships and carried out his military service in the Hellenic Navy.

In 1938 he obtained the license of Second Officer in the Merchant Marine, upon examinations and in February of 1939 he embarked on a ship as a Second Officer. Since then, and until August 1948 he was away from Greece due to the 2^nd World War and the occupation of our country. During the war he served in various Greek cargo ships as a Second Officer and Chief Officer. At times he would stay in England (Liverpool) for rest.

In June 1943, while serving on board the Greek STANDARD type steamship named “BORIS”, he was torpedoed by a German submarine and was shipwrecked in the South Atlantic Ocean. He was rescued after 11 days with the additional 15 castaways of his boat 15 N.m. from Pernambuco, Brazil.

Captain Giannoulis Moraitis participated in the Normandy landing, while serving on the LIBERTY type steamship named “HELLAS”, as part of the first merchant convoy that arrived at Normandy 36 hours after D-Day (6 June 1944) loaded with various war material (tanks, cars, cannons, etc.) and around 300 American officers, petty officers, and soldiers.

He returned to Greece in August 1948 and obtained the Captain Class A’ License upon examinations on 18 December 1948.

Marie I. Moraitis nee Marmaras, was born on August 26, 1934 in Baltimore, Maryland.  Her parents were Iakovos Marmaras of Sineti and Eleni Kousouri of Baltimore (parents were from Laconia). Marie had two sisters, Hareklia Tsakalas and Constadina Dourakos, and three nieces Eleni, Roanthi and Kalomira and one nephew Iakovos. In her childhood, Marie was very athletic and enjoyed bike riding, roller skating and various other sports.  She and her sisters attended piano lessons and Greek school weekly. Marie graduated from high school in February 1954. At school, Marie enjoyed playing on the basketball and soft ball teams.  After graduation, she took a job at Equitable Life Insurance Company.

In December 1956, Giannoulis’s ship, Embiricos’ owned “Sea Rover”, came to port in Baltimore and Giannoulis met Mr. Marmaras. Mr. Marmaras was a suppliers for restaurants and a ship chandler for Andriot ship owners. Captain Moraitis was invited by Mr. Marmaras to dine and at that dinner met his bride Marie. The romance began through letter writing as Giannoulis was sailing to Japan when he left Baltimore.  After months of writing, Marie and her mother Mrs. Marmaras met the Captain in Canada. During this port call, Giannoulis called Mr. Marmaras, asked for Marie’s hand in marriage and permission was granted. The ship “Sea Rover” came into port at New Orleans and Giannoulis flew to Baltimore for the wedding on August 6, 1957. Special permission was given by the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of America for the wedding to take place during the fast before “Assumption of the Virgin Mary”. After the wedding, they rejoined the ship on August 8 and set sail for Europe where they left the ship for an 18 month leave in Greece.

They sailed together for 15 years until Giannoulis retired in 1972. Marie wrote in her high school yearbook that her dream was to “travel the world” and she circumnavigated the globe seven times. Most of the ships that Giannoulis sailed on were owned by the Embiricos family with whom he had close professional and family ties (same as his father Petros).

Towards the end of his seafaring career, the company of George E. Embiricos asked Captain Moraitis to work at the company’s office in London, a proposal that he did not accept preferring to spend the rest of his life in Andros.

In retirement, the couple lived in Chora, Andros, and returned to Baltimore every 18 months to visit with family.  Marie was a volunteer at the home for the elderly in Hora and was an active member at her church. Both Giannoulis and Marie enjoyed memberships at the Andrion Club and the Andros Yacht Club where Giannoulis served as vice-president between 1973 – 1975. Giannoulis was an excellent gardener and had beautiful flowers and trees in his garden. They had many friends in Baltimore and Andros and enjoyed entertaining on both continents.

At the age of 91 he was given an award by the Historical and Ethnological Company of Greece, for his distinguished service as a Merchant Marine Captain, and for his heroic activity during the 2^nd World War, at the battles of the oceans.

Marie and Giannoulis were married for 53 happy years. Giannoulis passed away in February 2010 and Marie followed him in death in July 2014.