Hours before the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed a year ago under the impact of the runaway container ship Dali, The Brew was out in the harbor on another assignment, looking at the Bear Creek superfund site near the former Sparrows Point steel plant.

The trip, sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, left from the Downtown Sailing Center on Key Highway at 2 p.m. on March 25, 2024.

Over the next half hour we passed by the Seagirt Marine Terminal, glancing idly at the two large ships loading there (one of which turned out to be the Dali), then ducked under the main span of the Key Bridge about 2:45 p.m.

After viewing the ruins of Fort Carroll, an abandoned military island in the shadow of the bridge, we motored around to Bear Creek, where a CBF employee dredged up sample after sample of smelly black muck from the water around the proposed superfund site.

By 4:30 p.m., we were heading back toward the city, little knowing that the main span before us, silhouetted against a darkening sky, would tumble within seconds into the Patapsco River nine hours later under the massive shock of the 984-foot-long Dali hitting its western pier.

A truck can be seen passing over the main span of the Key Bridge as it stretched across the Fort McHenry Shipping Channel. In the forefront is Fort Carroll, an former Army installation. (Mark Reutter)

A truck can be seen passing over the main span of the Key Bridge as it stretched across the Fort McHenry Shipping Channel. In the foreground is Fort Carroll, a former Army installation. (Mark Reutter)

What the Army abandoned in 1921, gulls, cormorants and other nesting birds have reclaimed. They were out in force, swooping and squawking, the day before the Key Bridge collapsed. (Mark Reutter)

What the military abandoned in 1921, gulls, cormorants and other nesting birds reclaimed. They were out in force, swooping and squawking, the day before the Key Bridge collapsed. (Mark Reutter)

The Dali, blue hull at right, at the Seagirt Marine Terminal the afternoon before it set sail. (Mark Reutter)

The Dali, blue hull at right, at the Seagirt Marine Terminal the afternoon before it set sail. (Mark Reutter)

The Key Bridge, seen in the late afternoon sun, from Bear Creek on March 25, 2024 and (BELOW) flush against the horizon 15 minutes later near Fort McHenry. (Mark Reutter)

The Key Bridge, seen in the late afternoon sun from Bear Creek on March 25, 2024, and (BELOW) its truss structure flush against the horizon. (Mark Reutter)

PS: The toxic muck that lies under the harbor at Sparrows Point - the byproduct of decades of steelmaking - near the present site of the Amazon Fulfillment Center. (Mark Reutter)

PS: The oily black sediment that lies under the harbor at Sparrows Point – the byproduct of decades of steelmaking – near the present site of the Amazon Fulfillment Center. (Mark Reutter)