She sailed for 11 years as Good Samaritan, serving the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. During that decade-plus, she carried cargo and personnel to the Pan-American games for the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1991, and became the first ship to legally sail between the United States and Cuba in 30 years.

In 1994, she underwent extensive renovations, including the addition of onboard operating rooms, and was renamed Island Mercy. She was redeployed to the South Pacific where she served until 2001. To her crew, she was affectionately known as “Little Giant.”