Ten years ago today, amidst the smoke, flames, and debris from the collapsed World Trade Center towers, an armada of tugs, ferries, launches and virtually every other craft available in New York harbor steamed toward the docks and seawalls of lower Manhattan to evacuate hundreds of thousands of commuters. The bridges and tunnels were closed. The only escape was by water.

No one was was in command. There was no single plan. (The New York City Emergency Response Center was buried in the rubble of the towers.) Nevertheless by nightfall almost half a million commuters had been evacuated by New York mariners who knew what they had to do and worked together to do it. It was one of the largest maritime evacuations in history.  See our post from two years ago:  Maritime Evacuation on 9/11 – An American Dunkirk

My wife was one of those commuters. After being trapped in her office building by the smoke, dust and debris for several hours, she heard that ferries were running on the East River from the foot of Wall Street. Wrapping a towel around her face, she walked with her colleagues down the block to find busy ferry terminal at Pier 11.   Ferry employees directed the still stunned passengers to the appropriate ferries running to Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island or New Jersey. No fares were collected. Everyone helped each other in boarding. Miraculously, my wife was home on the other bank of the Hudson by mid afternoon.

Here is an amazing video that captures the madness, wonder, determination and commonplace heroism of that Tuesday in September.  Thanks to Wojtek Wacowski for pointing it out.

BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

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