Capt. Jeff Powell's job presents some challenges most of us will never face.
Pirates, high seas and deadly diseases, to name a few.
The Lewiston resident is master and captain of the Liberty Eagle, a motor vessel that is just shy of 700 feet long and weighs more than 62,000 tons when it's empty. When it's full, the Liberty Eagle delivers food to needy countries throughout the world.
Powell's schedule is typically three months on and then three months off. He said the most exhilarating part of his job is the one that would terrify many of us the most: rough water.
"It's life and death," he said. "Your safety is the ship in the sea. It's pretty intense. Especially as the captain. It's one thing (being) chief officer or second officer, but when you're the captain, those people are all, 'It's all you.' They're looking at you to make the right decisions."
Doug Bauer: Why do they call your ship a tramp ship?
Jeff Powell: It's a tramp because we wait for sailors, and they tell us where we're going, what we're going to pick up. They tell us to design the load. "This is what you have to carry. You need a load plan for 42,000 tons of wheat, maybe 20,000 tons of sorghum. So design us a load plan so we can carry this safely. Send it back into the office, then go to this location. Pick this up, take it to this location."
DB: You primarily deliver food aid, don't you?
JP: Yeah. Our primary charge is (Public Law 480) cargo, which is Food For Peace. I think it started back in the '50s, and it's helping feed the hungry people all over the world. Primarily all around Africa, India, the Philippines, Pakistan, Yemen, South America, Central America. We send food all over the world. Some of it comes from (the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley). I've had bills of lading come onto the ship and it will say Lewiston Grain Growers. So that cargo makes it through the rail system down into the ports in Houston and loads into the ships.
DB: What is it like sailing through pirate-infested waters?
JP: Up until a few years back, we would protect ourselves. We would carry a half-dozen rifles of some type, shotguns and ammunition. We would have interesting ideas like stringing barbed wire around the stern and on the ladder wells and on the side of the ship so they can't climb up. We'd do some target practice out there to be prepared. Then the sailors work 12 hours a day and then they go onto a watch system, so everyone does two hours. We love the overtime. It's extra money. We pirate watch and carry weapons. That's the way we did it. It's getting harder and harder to bring guns in and out. Every country is getting over-regulated. So now these over-regulations make it where, to claim our weapons and bring them into the port, it became not only a problem, but a way for them to make money. So they'd confiscate our weapons then they charge us storage fees. Then we'd have trouble getting them back when we're ready to sail.
So the companies went to these contract outfits that they grew from the need for security. One of the main ones is British Royal Marines. They'll come and join our ship. So when we go through the Red Sea we stop off in, of all places, Saudi Arabia, and they come out and we'll pick them up there and they have a little ship that doesn't tie up. It's a weapons ship. So the weapons and ammunition and fighting packs are waiting on there. So you pick up your men in a little shuttle, and the weapons come up on the ship. They stay, sleep, live, eat on the ship until we're out of the pirate waters. That works for me.
DB: Have you ever had any issues?
JP: I've been approached. I've been circled off of Somalia. We had some engine trouble. We drifted for a day and a half, and they came out and circled us. But the Marines were up there standing with their rifles looking tall, and that kept them away. They're not that aggressive if you show that you're ready for them.
DB: Another issue that you encounter when you're going to Africa is Ebola. Do you take precautions?
JP: Yeah, we have a safety meeting. Tell the guys, of course, don't eat bats (chuckles), don't eat mammals, watch your sexual activity, watch where you go, watch what you touch and eat. It's touchy.
DB: Does it make you nervous?
JP: Yeah. I'd say so. I've been going to East Africa mostly because my ship is a deeper-drafted vessel. Ebola has been to Durban, (South Africa), before. It has been in South Africa, and it did make me nervous.
DB: Do you worry about stowaways?
JP: Oh yeah, because if you bring a stowaway back - we've had ships come halfway home and find out they have a stowaway - you're going to be delayed. You're going to be put at anchor and quarantined when you get to the U.S. It's going to (cost) hundreds of thousands of dollars.
DB: What was it like when you went to North Korea?
JP: They disabled our ship, took all the communications off. We spent a month in three ports in North Korea delivering 40,000 tons of corn. It was really strange. It's a time warp. I had little Korean guys put pistols in my face as I'm stepping off the ship. They're driving ox carts, nobody has any electronics, nothing. I mean, dirt roads, old vehicles, it's strange. When we were there, we couldn't call out. Couldn't make any communications. We spent a month there, so basically when we took that load, once we pulled into North Korean waters and they came out and we come through the locks coming up to Nampo, that was it. They disabled everything. They could have put us away like they do. We had one guy that was almost arrested. We'd probably still be there right now. He had a camera.
DB: It's got to be difficult to be away from your family for long periods of time, but it's clearly something you love, too.
JP: It's harder for them. That's just who you are (as a sailor). I'm happy the day I go to work, and I'm happy the day I come home. That's the way it's supposed to be. If it's not that way, then you've got a problem. I see these guys come on the ship; I'm the camp counselor, I'm the doctor, I'm the friend. If something happens or someone passes away at home and you're in the middle of the ocean and you get a message, I've got to be there for people. Or if someone gets sick, I have to be there for people. You just have to be ready.
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Bauer is managing editor of the Lewiston Tribune. He may be contacted at dbauer@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2269.
JEFF POWELL
TITLE: Master, M/V Liberty Eagle
FAMILY: Wife, Monica; daughters, Katrina, 32, Tiana, 30, Abby, 20, and Lydia, 15; six grandchildren
EDUCATION: Hemet (Calif.) High School, 1976; working on degree in marine technology
WORK HISTORY: 38 years in the maritime industry