Richard Stith and his wife Rosemarie climb the boarding ramp onto the Polish cargo ship Irma,
which is docked at the Port of Indiana in Portage on Wednesday.
They are departing on a month-long cruise that will take them to Algeria and, eventually, to Amsterdam.

PORTAGE, June 14, 2007 -- On Wednesday afternoon, Richard Stith and his wife Rosemarie got the call that their ship was in. They climbed the long, steep metal stairway that led to the deck of the enormous vessel.

The Irma, a freighter with the PZM Polish Steamship Co., will be their home for the next 30 days or so while they venture to Algeria and then ... who knows?

The Stiths are freight travelers. They enjoy traveling on a freighter instead of a luxury passenger cruise line because the experience is something that can't be found anywhere else on the seas. Traveling aboard a freighter costs about the same as luxury cruise travel, but the rooms are typically larger, very clean and provide a slice of life unseen by most tourists.

They boarded the Irma at the Port of Indiana. It leaves Thursday for Detroit, where it will take on a load of coke, a coal product used in steel production. The Irma then travels to Annaba, Algeria.

The Algerian city was founded in the 12th century by the ancient Phoenicians and is today the home of an enormous steel industry.

The Irma will then depart for a location to be determined, based upon which company purchases the load for the highest price. Until then, the Stiths will wait onboard in the Atlantic.

Their final destination will be Amsterdam, where the Stiths will go ashore and then spend much of the summer in Europe.

Richard and Rosemarie enjoy the sailors' life.

"When I was a kid, my grandfather and grandmother took all eight of their grandchildren all around the Atlantic and Mediterranean on a cargo ship," said Richard Stith, a law professor at Valparaiso University who is on sabbatical. "I was 18 years old, the oldest of the grandkids. That's how I got it in my blood since my family used to like to travel by ship."

Rosemarie says she, too, has freighter travel in her blood. She said she and Richard had this uncommon hobby in common when they met and have since shared it with their three daughters who also love the adventure.

"I grew up on the German coast and loved the water and can't get enough of it. Being on the sea for a long time is beautiful. You leave this busy world behind that's hurtling forward and there's this calm rocking back and forth," Rosemarie Stith said.

The Stiths say this is the first Polish freighter they have taken and look forward to eating every meal with the captain of the ship and getting to know the crew.

"Everyone is eager to talk to new faces and tell you a joke," said Rosemarie Stith.

"All the sailors have great sea stories to tell," said Richard Stith who was studying the Polish language in the days before boarding.

There is only one other passenger on board from America, William Fine of Mantoloking, N.J., who is taking his third freighter trip but also his first on a Polish ship.

The appeal for the Stiths is the sense of adventure, the sense of the unknown and the life on the seas.

"When you get in the middle of the ocean, the inky black, it's awe inspiring. The power. This is not a nature that's going to cuddle you," said Richard Stith.

Rosemarie Stith concurred.

"Being with nature is the appeal. The movement of the sea, the smell, and the sound of the waves."