9/11 Maritime: videos, oral history, original PortSide exhibit
For an overview of this topic, visit our first maritime 9/11 webpage here. This page has a lot of content.
On 9/10/21, a blessing of the fleet commemorated the 20th of anniversary of 9/11 boatlift. During that, PortSide’s Executive Director Carolina Salguero narrated a harbor tour on a boat from Classic Harbor Line. The sound has some issues at some points. When it is faint, it may be better to use headphones.
Mariners' Response to 9/11. This PortSide talk occurred on Zoom September 7, 2021. The host was Carolina Salguero, PortSide founder & ED. Panelists were Rich Naruscewicz, Jessica Du Long. and Jan Andrusky (who worked at Weeks Marine then). Some of our Zoom audience were mariners who responded to the 9/11 attacks, so the program became a discussion between participants and not just panelists talking. There were tech problems screening the video Boatlift which is embedded in our program video below. If you haven’t seen that before, skip to the link below this one to see it.
Boatlift narrated by Tom Hanks, funded by Center for National Policy
Pier 25 After the Fall by Mike Mazzei, a videographer working as a dockbuilder, removing WTC rubble from Pier 25 in Tribeca.
Mariners Respond to 9/11, a video about PortSide’s 2011 exhibit.
Oral histories
"Harbor Voices from 9/11" produced by David Tarnow. Link to related audio documentary.
Below: MagRack3 profile of PortSide NewYork founder and ED Carolina Salguero. She was a photojournalist reporting on 9/11 at the time.
Below: Footage from security cameras of Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) of the Coast Guard in this port. (VTS WTC 911)
Updates over the years
2021 was the year that the media and documentarians finally seemed to find the boatlift part of the maritime 9/11 story. PortSide was contacted by many and served as content advisors. Our 9/11 webpage was used a lot, and our ED Carolina Salguero was interviewed. She was the only photojournalist who covered the boatlift; she got Ground Zero on her 28 foot power boat, photographing the second tower collapse and the boatlift en route. See video above.
New curriculum for youth in 2021 and 2022:
PortSide helped Scholastic Magazine create articles about the boatlift adapted for two age levels, completed late this summer. They are in Storyworks (grades 4-6) and Scope (approx. grades 6-8). You need to subscribe to get access to these. Digital-only subscriptions are available for $8.99 for Scope and $7.65 for Storyworks. That gives access to this article as well as other current stories and 5+ years of archive content.
Jessica DuLong, the author and marine engineer cited on this page, has an article about how to talk about 9/11 and other traumatic events on CNN here.
In addition, PortSide has several children’s books about the 9/11 boatlift and is ready to create youth programs for interested schools. If your school is interested in a program about the maritime 9/11 story with us, please send an email.
2021 media coverage of maritime 9/11 story
9/11, 20 years later: Calling All Boats, by Joel Milton. Workboat. 9/9/2021
9/11 Remembrance Events, 710 WOR, 9/9/2021
Escape From New York The great maritime rescue of lower Manhattan on 9/11, by Garrett M. Graff, New York Magazine, 9/11/2021
Honoring the Heroes of the Great Boat Lift Out of Manhattan on 9/11, NBC New York, 9/10/2021
On 9/11, a Flotilla of Ferries, Yachts and Tugboats Evacuated 500,000 People Away From Ground Zero, by John Hanc, Smithsonian Magazine, 9/9/2021
I Was There featuring Pete Johansen of NY Waterway ferry, VICE 4/29/2021
Lower Manhattan Community Sidelined from September 11 Observances, Again, The Broadsheet, 9/9/2021
NYC boat procession honors 9/11 victims, commemorates largest water evacuation in history, Eyewitness News, WABC 7, 9/10/2021
Port Authority to Hold Series of Solemn Events Commemorating 20th Anniversary of 9/11, Jersey City Times, 9/8/2021
Port captains recall heroic mission to evacuate New Yorkers from Ground Zero on 9/11. by Jessica DuLong, New York Post, 9/8/2021.
Seen & Heard: Events to commemorate 9/11, Tribeca Citizen, 9/7/2021
September 11: The heroes of the forgotten maritime rescue mission. Boat captains Richard Naruszewicz, Greg Freitas and Sean Kennedy talk to the BBC about their role in America's largest maritime evacuation. Video by Chloe Kim. 9/8/2021
The Great Boat Lift of 911, NJ.com 9/10/2021
Twenty Years on, the 9/11 Boatlift is Ripe for Recognition, by Erin X. Wong, Medium, 9/12/2021
Working on the 9/11 Boatlift Taught Me to Redefine Heroes, The Daily Beast, 9/7/2021
The famous filmmaker Spike Lee created a docuseries NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½ shown on HBO Max. About 15 minutes of its Chapter 6 covers the boatlift. It includes brief remarks by our ED Carolina Salguero and her photos.
Prior media coverage and books
Read this 8/16/18 article about the 9/11 response of Rich Naruszewicz who was Captain of the fast ferry THE FINEST on 9/11 and evacuated thousands of people. The ferry is now operated as a ferry in Washington State. Naruszewicz is a former crew member of the MARY A. WHALEN, PortSide’s flagship
In 2017, the book “DUST TO DELIVERANCE: Untold Stories from the Maritime Evacuation on September 11," by Jessica DuLong was released. The book has been re-released in paperback, with a new preface and a foreword by Mitchell Zuckoff (FALL AND RISE), under the title SAVED AT THE SEAWALL: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift. here is her comparison of Dunkirk and the 9/11 boatlift. DuLong worked as engineer on the fireboat JOHN J. HARVEY during their response to 9/11.
In 2016, a book was released, American Dunkirk, about the waterborne evacuation. This book was written after years of research by the Directors of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware. The Center's focus is improving emergency response and understanding human behavior in emergencies.
2016 WNYC radio interview with PortSide President Carolina Salguero about her experience documenting the 9/11 boatlift changed her life and led to the creation of PortSide.
March 2016, our President Carolina Salguero spoke on a panel at the AIANY (she starts at 47:50) and emphasized that post- Sandy resiliency planning should not erase the lessons of 9/11, saying "we need to re-portify as we fortify." The resiliency plan for lower Manhattan, the Big U, is essentially a wall, and ports are apertures. NYC needs resiliency (flood protection) measures that have apertures.
June 2016 interview of Coast Guard Officer Brandon Brewer about his role on 9/11 by the blog undicisettembre. (Also available in Italian).
The Coast Guard has released audio files of September 11 marine broadcasts. Starting with the New York Command Center receiving initial notification from the sailing vessel Ventura of an explosion at the World Trade Center, on Sept. 11, 2001 the recordings continue (in four parts) documenting the U.S. Coast Guard's coordination of the largest maritime evacuation in U.S. history; nearly 500,000 people were transported by boats from Lower Manhattan after the attacks.
Links to audio files: 1, 2, 3, 4
Transcription of part 1, part 2
228 page Coast Guard report “Rogue Wave, The U.S. Coast Guard on and after 9/11”
PortSide’s 2011 exhibit
In 2011, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, PortSide NewYork created a multimedia exhibit about the extraordinary and relatively unsung role of mariners responding to the attacks in NYC, from evacuation to rubble removal. It included photography, text, videos, oral history and a reading room. Fittingly, the exhibit was installed on a ship - the former U.S. Lighthouse Tender LILAC - docked at Hudson River Park’s Pier 25, a pier from which Ground Zero rubble was removed.
Videos in PortSide’s exhibit
"Boatlift" (above) narrated by Tom Hanks, funded by Center for National Policy
Pier 25 After the Fall by Mike Mazzei, dockbuilder, his of removing WTC rubble at the same Pier 25 where the exhibit was installed on the LILAC
Rescue at Water’s Edge by MARAD
Oral Histories
Produced by Carolina Salguero in 2001. Hear the following at this link.
Capt. Wayne Carnis and Deckhand Mike Scanlon of tug VIVIAN ROEHRIG
Capt Ken Pederson, Reinaurer
Capt. Mike Rice of tug KATHLEEN WEEKS
Deckhand Sam Dawson, tug SHELBY WEEKS
"Harbor Voices from 9/11" produced by David Tarnow. You can hear the following at this link. Related New Audio Documentary by David Tarnow. A book "All Available Boats" contains transcriptions of these interviews, portraits of each person and documentary photos many of which are by PortSide's Carolina Salguero.
James Parese, Captain, Staten Island Ferry SAMUEL I. NEWHOUSE
John William Akerman, Sandy Hook Harbor Pilot
Paul Amico, builder/maintenance of most ferry docks in NYC at the time.
Kimberly Gochberg, Intercollegiate Sailing Coach, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Tom Sullivan, crew Marine 1 fireboat JOHN D. MCKEAN
Ken L. Peterson, Jr., Port Captain, Reinauer Transportation
Huntley Gill, retired FDNY fireboat, JOHN J. HARVEY
Tim Ivory, Engineer, retired FDNY fireboat, JOHN J. HARVEY
Lee F. Gruzen, Battery Park City resident
Dockbuilder Paul Amico (right) was a special docent during 2011 OHNY weekend.
Texts in Reading Room
The reading room contained transcripts of many oral histories and some magazine articles. Below are links to some.
Jessica DuLong, author of book My River Chronicles: Rediscovering the Work that Built America; A Personal and Historical Journey (Free Press, 2009). See her new book May 2021 Saved at the Seawall and see excerpts from My River Chronicles here.
Offshore Magazine article, "A Sea of Heroes," by Betsy Haggerty
Book All Available Boats. This includes considerable photography by PortSide's Founder and Director Carolina Salguero who was a photojournalist at the time and got to ground zero in her own boat, the only journalist to do that.
Vision 2020, NYC's new comprehensive waterfront plan
Transcribed Oral Histories
Rear Admiral Richard E. Bennis, Coast Guard Captain of the Port
Lieutenant Michael Day, Chief, Waterways Oversight Branch, Coast Guard NewYork
Bill Esola, commercial driver
Arthur Imperatore, Jr. President, New York Waterway
John Pensiero, marine engineer
Ship Lore & Model Club Presentation
LT Michael Day, USCG
Capt. Andrew Mcgovern, Sandy Hook Pilots
Ken Peterson, Port Captain, Reinauer
Sven Van Batavia, VP, Miller's Launch, Inc.
Tour the exhibit via slideshow below
Special docents during OHNY weekend:
Betsy Haggerty, maritime journalist, former editor Offshore Magazine, author of award-winning article about 9/11.
Norman Brouwer, renowned maritime historian is on hand to talk about the Lilac.
Paul Amico, builder of most ferry docks in NYC, a kayaker, major aid to Manhattan's evacuation and an oral history subject in the exhibit. Hear him here
Related Talk
Carolina Salguero and journalist Jessica DuLong, author of the critically acclaimed book "My River Chronicles: Rediscovering the Work That Built America," and chief engineer of retired New York City Fireboat John J. Harvey, which was called back into service to supply firefighters with Hudson River water.
Exhibit Content Advisers
& Contributors
Carolina Salguero - Curator
Paul Alter - Exhibit Design
Brandon Brewer, USCG at time of 9/11
Center for National Policy
John Doswell
Jessica DuLong, Engineer, fireboat JOHN J. HARVEY, journalist
Huntley Gill, Captain, Engineer, fireboat JOHN J. HARVEY
Lee Gruzen
Betsy Haggerty
David Hodgson
MARAD
McAllister Towing
Mike Mazzei
Rich Naruszewicz
Alan Olmsted
Jack Putnam
Rick Spilman
Jim Sweeney
David Tarnow
US Coast Guard
Weeks Marine, company that removed rubble by tug and barge
Will Van Dorp
Exhibition Design:
This exhibit was curated by PortSide NewYork Director Carolina Salguero who was working as a photojournalist on 9/11. She was the only photojournalist to arrive at Ground Zero via boat - her - and created award-winning images of scenes on the water and at Ground Zero. See videos about her 9/11 reporting here and here.
The exhibit was planned and designed in a 2.5 week charrette by Paul S. Alter, a principal at LHSA+DP, Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership. LHSA+DP is a NYC based architecture and design firm that creates "narrative" architecture and interpretive exhibition projects.
The firm has been recognized for its immersive and innovative approach to design as interpretation and garnered numerous awards for its work in both the public and private sector.
LHSA+DP has created exhibitions and installations for such venerable institutions as the Smithsonian Institute, Cooper Union, The New York Historical Society, The New York Hall of Science, and the Chicago Academy of Science.
A passionate sailor and amateur mariner himself, Alter worked during 2011 with PortSide as a desigNYC advisor to the BoatBox project, another PortSide waterfront endeavor.
With practically no time and budget, he and Yun Chu Chou, a summer intern, jumped in wholeheartedly, embracing the ship as an integral part of the exhibit experience.
A journey through the ship and through the time-line of the 9/11 events became a key organizing structure for the exhibit. They focused on the exhibit's three key themes, 1) Rescue and Evacuation 2) Rubble Removal and 3) Lessons Learned.
A quick site visit on board the LILAC revealed that visitors should be led through the inherently narrow, awkward and difficult passageways of the ship and that these tight circulation spaces would make atmospheric galleries.
One hall was filled with images overhead and image+word collages on the sides. Two small cabins offer a respite from dense imagery and provide oral histories and videos. At the the stern of the ship, a grand semi-circular cabin was was made into a reading room where visitors could quietly sit and drill down into more detail.
The multi-media experience is also multi-sensory with river breezes passing through open portholes, the constant gentle movement of LILAC, the smack of the waves against the hull, and the sounds and smells from the waterfront and the ship itself, all of which becomes integral to the visitor's journey and helps evoke the mariner's experience.
This is an elemental installation meant to provoke thought about the mariner's world and to enhance people's understanding of the critical role that mariners played in responding to the 9/11 emergencies.
Exhibit location
Appropriately, our exhibit was on Pier 25, Hudson River Park, the pier where the smaller WTC rubble was removed via one of the two emergency barge ports. The exhibit was hosted by the LILAC Preservation Project.
The U.S. Lighthouse Tender LILAC was launched on May 26, 1933. Built for the U.S. Lighthouse Service, she carried supplies and personnel to lighthouses and maintained buoys. The duties of the Lighthouse Service were later absorbed by the U.S. Coast Guard. LILAC was decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1972. She was the last ship in the Coast Guard fleet to operate with reciprocating steam engines and is unique in still possessing her original engines. She is on the National Register of Historic Places and is eligible to become a National Historic Landmark.
Thanks to our 2011 exhibit sponsors!
WISTA, McAllister Transportation, Weeks Marine, LHSA+DP, New York Shipping Association, K-Sea Transportation