Deck hands capped with yellow hard hats teamed with volunteers on the Portland waterfront Tuesday to stow relief aid aboard a ship bound for Haiti ravaged by a Jan. 12 earthquake.

The 220-foot Sea Hunter belongs to Sub Sea Research, a treasure hunting and marine salvage company co-owned by Kathy and Greg Brooks of Gorham.

The ship’s crew directed drivers of cars, pickups and vans right onto the pier and a crane on the ship hoisted aboard tons of food, water and medical supplies.

“Look at all these boxes, it’s unbelievable,” said Greg Brooks casting his eyes along donations piled on the pier where the ship was moored. “People are fantastic.”

The Sea Hunter, which had been berthed in Boston, arrived in Portland Tuesday to load local relief donations. The ship will carry up to 1 million pounds of life-saving supplies to Haiti for victims.

It was expected to sail Wednesday, but Brooks said Tuesday plans were changing moment by moment as more donations became available.

Stephanie Ferrante of Westbrook, a crewmember and staff archaeologist aboard the Sea Hunter, said she’s anxious to get under way for Haiti, about a five-day trip.

“Just knowing we can help is incredible,” Ferrante said Tuesday on the pier.

The pier bustled as TV cameras whirred and cell phone cameras clicked, recording the humanitarian effort. Joe Godin of Westbrook was amazed as he watched the Sea Hunter crew stow away donations. “I think it’s quite an operation. It’s fabulous,” Godin said.

Victims in Haiti include orphans, with one group of more than 200 orphans left homeless and with scant supplies when the earthquake flattened their orphanage, killing three children and injuring 15 others.

“I want to deliver stuff to the children,” Ferrante said. “Its heartbreaking so many children are without parents. Now the kids have lost everything.”

This week, Greg Brooks contacted a Haitian friend named Felix, who said 20,000 to 30,000 refugees showed up in Les Cayes, a coastal city in Haiti, south of Port-au-Prince, the capital, with more arriving daily. Brooks said there are no resources in Les Cayes.

“It’s really bad,” Brooks said.

As a crane swung supplies aboard, Rob and Jen Tomlinson of Limington were among the congregation of donors and onlookers gathered on the pier.

“From reports,” Rob Tomlinson said he had heard, “some (Haitians) are looking for their next crumb of food.”

On its Web site this week Sub Sea Research appealed for donations. It still needed fuel Tuesday for the ship’s round trip to Haiti and asked for tents for Haitians as “10s of thousands of people are sleeping outside with nothing.”

Julia Cote of South Portland serves as a deck hand aboard the Sea Hunter. “I’m trying to prepare myself mentally,” said Cote, referring to the destruction and deprivation she’ll witness in Haiti.

“It really will be great to help,” she said. “It’s good for the soul.”

Cote and Ferrante were busy on the telephone last week coordinating those donations collected in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The cargo will include three, 40-foot containers of groceries donated to feed Haitian orphans.

Other items donors hauled to the pier Tuesday included wheelchairs, crutches, large containers of oil and basketballs.

“Tons of clothes, toys and candy for the kids,” Cindy Hart of Portland, the ship’s cook, said from her view in the pilothouse high above the main deck.

Mary Doyle of West Newfield brought 100 pairs of eyeglasses and is launching a Web site, www.mainefriendsofhaiti.org.

“We want to get people together to help out – network,” Doyle said.

Heidi Barker of Sanford delivered an assortment including diapers, wipes, and soap from the York County Food Rescue.

“Marden’s donated 400 pounds of rice,” Barker said.

Instead of sending money to an agency, Faith Godin of Casco took a brand new camp cot and a bag of summer clothes to the pier. “I watched him (Brooks) on TV. He’s one of us, his heart is in this,” said Faith Godin, who took donations to the pier with husband Ed Godin.

Alongside the ship, a forklift on the pier moved pallets with 31,000 bottles of water donated by Hannaford. The capability aboard the Sea Hunter of converting seawater to fresh water has been upgraded to produce 12,000 gallons a day.

Early Tuesday, Brooks’ telephone was jumping with calls. “A guy called with 20 hospital beds,” Kathy Brooks said. The beds were to be delivered to the dock in Portland Wednesday.

A mobile medical unit was to be driven to the pier from Augusta Tuesday night. Brooks said a Boston city commissioner was lining up emergency generators. If the gift of generators materializes, the ship would return to Boston to load them. Brooks said plans had been changing with each new donation because he is reluctant to leave badly needed supplies behind.

A man having lunch at the nearby Becky’s Diner on Commercial Street spoke of the impact he had seen on Brooks’ face from the outpouring of support for Haiti’s people from Maine people.

“He was glowing,” said the man, identifying himself as Johnny Conflict of Scarborough. “He was feeding on the energy of the people.”

Carlene Cook, diocesan director in Portland for Catholic Relief Services, met with Brooks on the pier. She said Brooks is hoping to pick up containers of supplies from Catholic Relief Services in Miami. “I’m going to call CRS now,” Cook said as left the pier. “This is wonderful.”

“It’s good the world is coming together,” Rob Tomlinson said.

On its relief mission, the Sea Hunter’s journey will be 1,700 miles from Portland to Haiti. With an ever-present cell phone held like glue to his ear, Greg Brooks, wearing a Navy P-coat and jeans, was everywhere Tuesday, up and down the pier.

Hart, the sister of Greg Brooks, said Gary Esper of Massachusetts is the ship’s captain.

“Greg is the admiral,” Hart said with a smile.

Drumming up more cargo for the relief mission, Brooks stayed connected by phone to government officials and representatives of relief agencies. He handled supplies, briefed the media and chatted with donors and well-wishers, bidding him and his crew bon voyage.

While a crewmember of the Sea Hunter for nearly two years, this will mark Cote’s first trip to the Caribbean. “I’m very excited,” Cote said, “I’ve never been to Haiti.”

In Haiti, supplies will be offloaded from the Sea Hunter into boats to be taken ashore because there won’t be any pier in Les Cayes where the Sea Hunter will make landfall.

“We’re going to the places that needs it,” Greg Brooks said.

With its precious cargo of life-saving supplies, the ship could be a potential target.

“There are pirates in the Caribbean. No question about it,” Greg Brooks, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, said last week.

Security aboard the Sea Hunter is in the hands of Allan “Mack” McIntire of South Portland, a former Marine Corps marksmanship instructor.

“You want to make sure its getting to its destination,” McIntire said about the cargo.

Weapons aboard ship, which is used to carrying precious metals, include pistols and rifles for protection. “We use Bushmaster line of products,” said McIntire, a graduate of South Portland High School in 1997.

“It’s your house when you’re out to sea,” McIntire said about protecting the ship.

While the ship is at sea, Hart will feed the crew. For the Haiti round trip, Hart expected groceries to feed the crew of 12 to cost a “couple thousand.”

“We’ve got to go shopping,” Hart said.

At sea, members of the crew will take turns standing watch in the pilothouse, where three crew members will be on duty at all times. The crew will work up an appetite for chow inventorying and organizing the donations.

“They like meat and potatoes,” Hart said, but she has introduced vegetables into their diet.

She’ll cook on an electric stove and the galley is equipped with custom cabinets, a food pantry, a walk-in freezer, dishwasher and a big screen TV so Hart can watch movies. The galley table seats 10.

Besides working as a deck hand, Cote, who lent a hand muscling supplies aboard Tuesday, will assist in the galley. She’ll also serve as an assistant to the ship’s captain, Esper.

Also sailing aboard the Sea Hunter will be its mascot, a cat named Nyne, who even has his own life jacket. Nyne was named because he was the ninth member to join the ship’s crew.

“He lives on the boat,” Kathy Brooks said.

While Greg Brooks directed activities from the pier Tuesday, Nyne held sway in the pilothouse aboard ship. Nyne generally doesn’t leave his shipboard domain. When he did once he ran into trouble.

“He got beat up by a wharf cat in Portland,” Hart said.

Needing medical attention, Nyne was taken to a vet hospital. “Greg paid for it out of his pocket,” Hart said.

Cote said the crew rescued the 21?2-year-old cat as a stray in Louisiana. Nyne gets plenty of attention and affection aboard ship.

“We all feed him,” said Cote, who along with Nyne and the rest of the crew is geared up to sail.

“As soon as we get the rest of the fuel, we’re outta here,” he said.

Greg Brooks of Gorham, who is sailing his 220-foot ship to Haiti this week, talks to one of the dozens of people who dropped off supplies Tuesday and Wednesday at a Portland pier, where the ship was berthed. (Staff photo by Brandon McKenney)

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