Family back in India and Sri Lanka kept asking Dali crew members when they’d be home.
Seafarers are used to being away for months at a time. But the contract end dates for this crew meant little after the cargo ship lost power and plowed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early morning of March 26, 2024.
With investigations into the crash underway, some Dali crew members told loved ones they would need to remain in Baltimore a few more weeks, then a few more months. A Marylander looking after them gently suggested a different answer might be easier on their families.
“Plan on not knowing.”
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The Dali itself sailed out of Baltimore in late June. Eleven of its crew members, however, remain, as requested by federal authorities.
Over the past year, the seafarers in limbo have watched cricket matches on livestream, learned how to cook meals in their extended-stay hotels and gone on the occasional tourism outing, attending an Orioles game and wandering the National Mall in Washington.
The Dali’s management company, Synergy Marine, declined to make the crew members available for interviews. However, Synergy executives provided information about the seafarers’ time in Baltimore, and The Baltimore Banner interviewed locals who have assisted them with everyday needs.
The seafarers, one of whom is Sri Lankan and the rest Indian, have been supported locally by two faith-based organizations that serve the Port of Baltimore. Josh Messick, director of the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center, and Andrew Middleton, director of the Apostleship of the Sea, have coordinated grocery runs, driven them to religious services and organized social outings.
Synergy is paying the crews their salaries, in addition to living expenses, including meals.
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The crew members “continue to cooperate fully with the relevant authorities, including the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Transportation Safety Board,” Synergy spokesperson Vishal Srivastava said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors have pursued criminal charges in the case and litigation involving various claimants is ongoing. The NTSB, which said it is not mandating Dali crew members remain in Baltimore, plans to release its final report this fall.
Of the 21 initially aboard the Dali, 10 of the more junior seafarers, including the ship’s cook, were permitted to return home in June after attorneys for Synergy and attorneys for the City of Baltimore reached an agreement.
Most of the repatriated crew have since embarked on voyages with new ships, Srivastava said, but one seafarer left the trade after the bridge disaster and its aftermath.
The U.S. government granted three of the 11 remaining seafarers permission to temporarily return to India for urgent family matters, including a medical procedure. One crew member’s engagement was in jeopardy after his fiancée’s family heard he was stuck in Baltimore. He smoothed things over during a trip home and returned to Baltimore a married man.
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Some family members have traveled halfway around the world to visit the stranded seafarers in Baltimore. During one such trip, a crew member’s son landed in the emergency room with flulike symptoms attributed, in part, to a mid-Atlantic climate far colder than that of India. Messick said his organization’s affiliate in London helped pay the resulting $1,500 medical bill.
Seafarers range in age from their 20s to their 50s. Some are gregarious; others, more reserved. Each, though, is eager for word on when they might be able to go home.
What they’re doing
Since disembarking from the Dali in June, the crew members have been living in furnished, extended-stay apartments with amenities such as a fitness center.
The seafarers pass many of their days playing chess and the Indian tabletop game carrom, and streaming matches of cricket, India’s most popular sport.
“I’ll get messages from different ones, saying India’s playing this country or that country, or it’s a big match against Pakistan,” Middleton said.
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A Dundalk native, Middleton had not watched much cricket before being shown it by the seafarers, who were “patient” in explaining the rules to him. He now finds the sport fascinating.
The crew members are unaccustomed to bitter winters and were expecting to be back home by now, so the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center provided them with hats, gloves, scarves and coats.
One of the crew members attends mass with Middleton each week; others attend Hindu services. They also regularly go to Indian grocery stores in Catonsville to buy meals to prepare at their apartments.
Mostly, though, they are restless and bored. One crew member has a U.S. work permit and “is engaged in official employment,” per Synergy. But, for the others, the logistics of commuting have been a challenge. The workers are not licensed to drive, so they’ve walked a lot more than they’re accustomed to compared to life at sea.
A few have bought bicycles, and others have been introduced to the Baltimore public transit system, acquiring bus passes.
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They’re also doing a bit of sightseeing.
Middleton hopes to soon coordinate a visit to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and last year they took a trip — via the MARC train — to Washington, where they toured national monuments. Some have gone to the National Aquarium. A few went last summer to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, where they ate hot dogs and received pins that say, “Today is my first Orioles game.”
Middleton invited several of the seafarers to join him and his wife in their home in January to watch the Ravens defeat the Cleveland Browns and win the AFC North division title. In an effort to share a taste of Maryland, Middleton served National Bohemian beer and crab cakes.
Asked if they liked the Natty Bohs and crabs, Middleton said, “Yeah, well, they liked the crab cakes.”
How they’re feeling
Many of the crew members have noticeably lost weight.
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Messick wondered how much of it is their unusual amount of land roaming and how much is stress.
Mental health has long been a problem for seafarers, Messick said, and the Dali crew members are “keenly aware” that six construction workers died in the bridge collapse.
“They know that they have changed how Baltimore exists, and now they’re trying to figure out how they can be present in the midst of that,” Messick said.
His goal, he said, is to support the crew without judgment and prevent them from spiraling into tedium. The seafarers have worried about attracting the notice of locals.
Some expressed anxiousness about visiting a nearby Hindu temple where they would surely be asked what brought them to the area, Messick said.
Language has also proven a challenge at times. Although English is the preferred language of the seas, most of the crew members’ native tongue is Tamil. One crew member’s first language is Hindi.
On one occasion, Middleton dropped off a crew member and kiddingly told him as he departed, “Behave yourself.” Confused, the seafarer asked what he had done wrong, and Middleton explained to him that he was joking.
“He called me later on that day because he was so worried that he had somehow offended me,” Middleton said.
After a year in Baltimore with no clear indication of when they’ll get to leave, they’re homesick, Middleton said.
“Human nature just says, ‘I want to go home. I want to see my family,’” Middleton said.
In late December, Messick and Middleton helped organize a holiday dinner for the crew members at the seafarer center near Fort McHenry.
A volunteer placed Key Bridge wall calendars for the new year on each desk. One member of the Dali crew spotted the photo and quietly asked Messick if he could turn it upside down.
Messick said he understood. “It’s hard to be reminded of it.”
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