During the warmer months, you may have been lucky enough to spot a pirate ship carrying tourists and partying adults around the Inner Harbor. The pirate hosts have now stopped offering those excursions with cold weather moving in, but they’ve stayed busy this month delivering some good eats to the unfortunate souls stranded aboard the Newlead Granadino.
ABC2 followed the Urban Pirates yesterday as they made their second food delivery of the month to the sailors. The first time around, The Point in Fells, Chik-fil-a, Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta Mista chipped in, per Facebook. This time, restaurants in Little Italy donated entire trays of some of Baltimore’s best Italian food.
Kyle Dembowski, the Urban Pirates’ general manager, told ABC2 they started the deliveries after hearing the 18 sailors had been fishing for food in the harbor’s murky waters. Most of them don’t have proper visas to leave the vessel and have been living off of donations delivered by other organizations, such as the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center, a ministry-based group, the Seafarers’ International Union and the International Transport Workers’ Federation. Also, if the sailors do leave for any reason, they’ll lose out on their wages from what was supposed to be a short assignment. That would be tough after two months of sitting stuck in the harbor.
Their vessel reportedly needs more than $1 million in repairs, but their holding company based in Greece isn’t coming up with the money. The Coast Guard has already ruled that the ship has to stay put due to its crummy mechanical condition.
Mary Davisson of the Seafarers’ Center previously said the ship was doing well on donations, namely basic supplies, but a warm meal can never hurt. The Urban Pirates have shared that they plan to keep making deliveries every Tuesday. Those who want to pitch in with food can email admin@urbanpirates.com, and those hoping to donate money can email Baltimore@seafarers.org.
