After nearly two decades of plying the world’s oceans aboard tankers and cargo ships, Jaskirat Mangat now captains BC Ferries’ newest ship between Powell River and Texada Island. He and his family lived on the island for seven months before moving to Powell River in June.
“We loved Texada and would have stayed there if it was just me and my wife, Gurpreet,” said Mangat. “With our five-year-old son, Azeez, we felt it would be more beneficial for him to live in Powell River.”
Mangat’s journey to Powell River began halfway around the world, where he was born in Ludhiana, a city of 1.9 million in Punjab, India.
He was influenced at an early age by his father, Amrik Singh, who was a marine worker.
“He would be gone for nine months at a time travelling all over the world,” said Mangat. “My mom, sister and I would wait for his rare telephone calls when he stopped in certain ports. It was not like today when everyone has a cell phone.”
Amrik then served in the Indian Merchant Navy before taking early retirement.
Mangat first went to sea when he was 19 years old, following months of training and apprenticing on three different ships. He worked on the world’s largest built tanker that travelled from Saudi Arabia to the Caribbean, including what is known as the Louisiana LOOP.
He decided to take exams to obtain his second officer certification, spending four months studying before appearing before surveyors and passing the requirements. Subsequently he obtained his chief mate and master certification.
“After two round trips, she was decommissioned,” said Mangat. “She had been built in France and the accommodations on board were very good.”
His next voyages were on a cargo ship that travelled between Vancouver, Seattle and Everett then over to Asia, including South Korea and four ports in Japan.
“In Vancouver and Seattle, I would take my bicycle off the ship and ride around all the streets I could,” said Mangat. “That is when I fell in love with BC.”
He has an uncle in Metro Vancouver whose daughter attended Simon Fraser University, which he visited.
“He told me I had seen more streets in Vancouver than he had.”
Mangat said the ports in other areas of the world were not close to any places where he could ride his bicycle.
He started planning to immigrate to Canada, where his sister already lived in Winnipeg. His future wife, who he married in 2009, had come to Canada in 2006 and became a Canadian citizen in 2010. She then sponsored him for his permanent resident card.
“I arrived in Winnipeg in February and loved that city. Our son was born there,” said Mangat. “I worked a variety of jobs in security, a factory and driving taxi while taking more exams and courses and waiting for my documents, sent to Transport Canada, to be verified. I was told I had to do a few more courses and exams.”
He ended up going back to India and returning to sea as he waited the 16 months it took to receive equivalent certification. He returned in 2018 and moved with his family to Richmond.
“I then interviewed with BC Ferries and was hired as a casual worker on ferries from Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay, Langdale and Bowen Island,” said Mangat.
He decided to apply for “each and every” internal job posting that came up.
“My first call was for the Texada Island route and I said ‘sure, why not?’ We rented a beautiful waterfront home that was then put up for sale. That is when we decided to buy a house in Powell River.”
He maintains a small place on Texada for his work days and says he loves the island and the people who view the ferry sailings as their highway.
“I’m so lucky that I get to captain Island Discovery,” he added, “the best and newest ship in the BC Ferries fleet.”
