Windsor Star - Aug 26, 2014<\/p>\n
When the sparkling new white MV Jiimaan ferry pushed through dark waters to dock in Kingsville late one night in 1992, Emma Nolan, then a ticket agent, never imagined she\u2019d one day be its captain.<\/p>\n
But more than 20 years later, she\u2019s the one wearing the crisp white uniform with four gold stripes.<\/p>\n
Nolan is the only female captain on a large ship in the Great Lakes, certified\u00a0as a Master, Near Coastal with Transport Canada. She got the job in May.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s the second woman known to have captained a large vessel\u00a0that travels regularly in the Great Lakes, but she doesn\u2019t expect to be the only one for much longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see it\u2019s easier to come up; it\u2019s easier to get through the system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When Nolan started her path toward the job she has now, she said it took time to prove she was there to stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey thought I was this lost girl searching for my path in life or something,\u201d Nolan said. She was the only woman in a class of about 20 students in marine navigation at\u00a0Georgian College. By the time she graduated, all but six had dropped out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey wanted to pat me on my head and send me on my way but once it was clear I was here to stay it changed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t mean it was easy. When she came back for her second year, one teacher told her he was shocked. He\u2019d thought she was there for the \u201cMrs.\u201d program: to find a husband.<\/p>\n
When she earned high grades \u2013 which she did often \u2013 classmates would insult her\u00a0and write her name on the bathroom stall.<\/p>\n
But Nolan said she\u2019s always had a personality of pushing through.<\/p>\n
When she was trying to decide what post-secondary education to pursue, she remembers her mother and guidance counsellor talking about her in another room. She saw an ad for a\u00a0coast guard program in the maritimes on the back of a magazine, and stormed into the room to tell them what she planned to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people say, \u2018You can\u2019t do it. You can\u2019t do it,\u2019 then I kind of stomp my feet and say I can do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nolan stands at the helm, listening to her hand radio while checking passenger counts and keeping an eye on traffic in the shipping lane.<\/p>\n
When she gets the confirmation from her crew, she turns a nob that bellows a loud sound, and starts navigating the ferry out of the Kingsville dock. Sometimes she lets cadet Deanna Pedoniquotte\u00a0do the steering, keeping a close eye and giving tips like \u201cgive it some slack\u201d to be sure it goes smoothly. The opportunity is one most cadets\u00a0don\u2019t get.<\/p>\n
Her colleagues all agree Nolan\u2019s\u00a0one of the best at navigating the ship through narrow channels and heavy winds. Those are the biggest challenge with a ferry like the Jiimaan. It\u2019s tall and wide, which means high winds can push it quickly.<\/p>\n
In October 2012, it ran aground on a shallow sand bar when wind blew it even further off a deviated course.<\/p>\n
Nolan says working on the Jiimaan is a captain\u2019s dream. The route is familiar, but always challenging as they change course to allow larger ships through or navigate around fishermen who try to catch the fish stirred up in the waters as the ferry goes by.<\/p>\n
When the ferry docks in Pelee Island for the night, most of the crew sleep on board.<\/p>\n
Nolan shares a cabin with the ferry\u2019s other captain, who works the days she\u2019s off. The small cabin has a television and a pile of books, and an adjoining office where Nolan does payroll and files paperwork.<\/p>\n
But she says she spends most of her time out with the crew: working long hours on the bridge and on breaks lounging in the back of the cafeteria where the crew eat their lunch\u00a0or greeting passengers travelling with them.<\/p>\n
She works one week on, one week off, giving her ample time to spend with her two sons.<\/p>\n
Her husband Ben Stover, also in marine navigation, works on a laker \u2014 a freighter that travels\u00a0the waters of the Great Lakes \u2014 that takes him out for a few months at a time. The couple rely on their mothers to look after the boys when they\u2019re both away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no boundaries,\u201d Nolan\u00a0said of her two boys. \u201cThey\u2019re going to grow up thinking that it\u2019s totally normal for a woman to be a captain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lillian Kluka, who was the first female captain on the Great Lakes, said she\u2019s tickled pink to see another woman take on the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be more of them,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m baffled because it\u2019s a great job. There are lots of girls who graduate from the marine academies here in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kluka said years ago when Nolan was still a student, they drove together to a conference for women in the marine industry. When she learned it was Nolan who got the job to be captain of the Jiimaan, she was thrilled and proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like every job. You have people who don\u2019t like you simply because of who you are, but you can\u2019t really waste any time thinking about it,\u201d Kluka said.<\/p>\n
Hanging in the cabin Nolan shares with the Jiimaan\u2019s other captain is a sign put up by a previous captain that reads: \u201cI am the captain of this ship and I have my wife\u2019s permission to say so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Nolan shakes her head and laughs. She\u2019s not going to take it down. She says with a chuckle that it just shows women have always been the ones in charge.<\/p>\n