This Day in History: Mariners turned heroes on 9-11

On this day in 2001, terrorists hijack four planes, crashing two into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon. It was an unthinkable day.

You know about the heroes who prevented a fourth plane from reaching its intended target, but do you know about other heroes who emerged on 9-11?

One little-discussed group conducted the largest water evacuation in history. Because of this assorted mix of civilian and Coast Guard mariners, half a million people escaped southern Manhattan.

“In the annals of 9/11,” a Smithsonian summary concludes, “the boat lift is one of many acts of valor that day—but it was something else: a marvel of improvisation and efficiency in the midst of chaos and horror.”

Remember, the fleeing occupants of the World Trade Center weren’t the only ones who needed to escape the falling debris and ash once the towers fell and the subways stopped working. Students in nearby schools were also trying to escape, as were occupants in other office buildings or residences.

Some New Yorkers fled north on foot, yet others were trapped further south. “[N]ot so much understood were the people south of the towers,” Coast Guard Adm. James Loy explained, “who couldn’t go north and east to the Brooklyn Bridge. They went south and into the water . . . .”

Coast Guard Lt. Michael Day was then just across the bay. No one had ever game-planned a massive evacuation of Manhattan, yet now one was needed. He put out a call: “All available boats: This is the United States Coast Guard. Anyone wanting to help with the evacuation of Lower Manhattan report to Governors Island.”

Maybe you won’t be surprised to hear that some ships were already helping? “Responding is who we are and what we do as captains,” charter Captain Greg Freitas shrugged. Ultimately, about 150 tugboats, ferries, yachts, and other ships joined the Coast Guard in evacuating roughly 500,000 people.

“Tugboats. I’ve never seen so many tugboats all at once,” the Staten Ferry’s Captain, James Parese, said. “He gave a call for all boats,” tugboat Captain Eric Johansson agreed, “and the whole harbor dropped whatever they were doing.” Another tugboat’s engineer was stunned. “I worked on the water for 28 years,” Robin Jones said, “I’ve never seen that many boats come together at one time that fast.”

NY Waterways ferry Captain Richard Thornton remembers his fear as he “stole” a boat and rushed back to Manhattan. He’d just dropped commuters off for work. How many were now in harm’s way? He would make 20 roundtrips by the end of the day.

“There’s no place I’d rather have been than behind the wheel of a ferry boat working on 9/11,” he concluded.

Other captains would remember shocking scenes as people walked out of the dust and ash, looking like zombies. “People were shocked,” Freitas said. “You could just see it when we helped them onto the boat.” Parese was stunned to see a man running, jumping, and sliding onto a boat deck. “I’m jumping for my life,” the man explained.

Other boat crews were struck by the sight of people from all walks of life working together, striving to get as many as possible onto the boats. “The thing that was the best,” yacht Captain Vincent Ardolino said, “everyone helped everyone.”

The rescues continued all day, but the docks were becoming eerie. “It looked like you landed on the moon,” one eyewitness said. “Everything was quiet. The boats are covered in this gray dust. It looked like something out of a haunted movie.”

In the end, though, they’d done it. “Average people,” Jones concluded, “they stepped up . . . . when the American people need to come together and pull together, they will do it.”

Americans doing what Americans do.  God bless this great country of ours.

Primary Sources:

• Documentary: BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

• Felicity Richards, Ferry Captain Answers Call for "All Available Boats" (9-11 Memorial and Museum; Feb. 1, 2024

• Fred L. Borch III & Lt. Col. Jess Rankin, 9/11 Remembrance: September 11th, 2001 Remembrance at TJAGLCS (The Army Lawyer; Issue 5 2021) (reprinted on The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School website HERE)

• James M Kendra & Tricia Wachtendorf, American Dunkirk: The Waterborne Evacuation of Manhattan on 9/11 (2016)

• Jessica DuLong, Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift (2021)

• John Hanc, On 9/11, a Flotilla of Ferries, Yachts and Tugboats Evacuated 500,000 People Away From Ground Zero (Smithsonian Mag., Sept. 9, 2021)

• Oral History: Lt. Michael Day (April 4, 2002) (Attack on America: September 11, 2001 and the U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Coast Guard Oral History Program)

• Sam LaGrone, Coast Guard Led 9-11 Water Evacuation Was ‘Bigger Than Dunkirk’ (USNI News; July 23, 2014)