Mark Pattison of Catholic News Service writes about efforts by maritime chaplains to help a crew stranded in the Port of Baltimore:
Dec. 20 was the last day of autumn. It was also the three-month mark that the crew of the Newlead Granadino remained at anchor near the Port of Baltimore.
The owner of the Granadino, an asphalt and bitumen tanker, declared bankruptcy during the ship’s voyage. The vessel is now owned by a bank, which could try selling it whole, or have it sent to Texas to be torn apart for scrap.
… The Rev. Mary Davisson, an Episcopal [priest] with the Baltimore International Seafarers Center, an ecumenical port ministry, told Catholic News Service that the 8-year-old ship’s air conditioning and heating system had gone out of whack while at anchor. Supplies delivered to counter that outage have included winter wear, such as long johns, and space heaters.
Urban Pirates, which conducts pirate-themed boat tours around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, made a deal with nearby restaurants to deliver donated hot meals once a week to the crew. The Knights of Columbus donated a large-screen television, said Msgr. Fitzgerald. The crew already had a large-screen TV, but it did not work with U.S. TV signals.
