Holding down the fort
Former Sydney resident holds senior chief steward position on Marine Atlantic’s MV Highlanders
Albert Edwards has always had a passion for cooking, which led him to a culinary career.
The former Sydney resident, who now calls Torbay, N.L., home, has worked as an executive chef at many locations across Cape Breton, working at the Delta Hotel in Sydney and the Maritime Inn in Port Hawkesbury.
Along with his experience, Edwards was also part of the group that opened the first Don Cherry’s location in Sydney, where he was responsible for the kitchen aspect of the franchise.
Despite his success locally, Edwards decided it was time for a change and chose to work with Marine Atlantic, a company he’s been with for the past 18 years.
“They were looking for cooks on the boat and I applied, and I got the job and slowly moved through the rankings,” said Edwards.
And move through the ranks he did. Today, Edwards, who studied his trade at NSCC Marconi Campus, is the senior chief steward for Marine Atlantic’s MV Highlanders, a vessel that travels between North Sydney and Port aux Basques, N.L. daily.
The 50-year-old has held the position since 2008 and fulltime since 2012.
Edwards’ duties on the boat are similar to those of a general
manager of a hotel. He’s responsible for crew and passenger accommodations, including food and other outlets.
“I’m responsible for 51 employees in the passenger services department, which has the largest employment on the vessel,” said Edwards.
“We have great teamwork, so everything runs smooth. We preach teamwork and it’s one of our core values and we like to stick with that, but safety is our No. 1 core value — I think it’s goes hand-and-hand.”
Edwards admits it can be a challenging job with the number of employees in his department.
“It’s not as challenging in a bad way. It’s more in a positive way, but being in the hospitality industry, which I have been for over 30 years and love doing, I find that the challenge is dealing with the personalities more than anything,” said Edwards.
Edwards isn’t the only member of his family currently working with Marine Atlantic.
His wife and son also work for the company — his wife in the purser’s office and son as an engine room assistant — on the MV Atlantic Vision.
“It’s in the family — my youngest daughter was here as a student and then she went on to graduate from university and has a job in her field,” said Edwards. “My oldest daughter never came here, she’s working in health care in Cape Breton and is trying to plan her own family.”
Although he doesn’t cook very often on the boat, Edwards still considers cooking his passion.
“Cooking is an art. You either love it or you do it for the sake of doing it as a job,” said Edwards. “If you love it, you will never get tired of it and you will want to keep doing it and keep improving your skills. It will always be an art for me.”
“There are times when I miss doing it because it’s something I’ve always thrived to get better at and I feel like I have done that over my career.”
Edwards currently has no plans, just yet, to retire from his position with the ferry company.
“I’m thinking another 10 years,” said Edwards. “I’m hoping that my wife and I will be able to retire the same day. Right now, that’s the plan.”