PortSide Exhibit: Mariners' response to 9/11
/Exhibit on the steamer LILAC - on Hudson River Park's Pier 25, Manhattan
PortSide NewYork, a waterfront-themed non-profit organization, is mounting a multi-media exhibit (photography, videos and oral history) and presentation about the extraordinary and little-known maritime role in 9/11, from evacuation to rubble removal.
Note:
The exhibit venue Lilac and PortSide's base of operations, the Mary A. Whalen, survived Irene unharmed. Despite Irene's disruptions and delays, we are proceeding with plans for the exhibit.Sponsors are still being sought for this exhibit. Please contact PortSide NewYork, Director Carolina Salguero,917-414-0565, portsidenewyork(at)gmail.com
Talk: Wed 9/14/11 7:00-8:30pm by Carolina Salguero, photojournalist on 9/11 and now Director of PortSide NewYork and journalist Jessica DuLong
Location: Historic ship LILAC, Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 at North Moore Street, Tribeca,Manhattan
Hours: During September on Thursdays from 12:00pm to 6:00pm and Saturdays from 1:00pm to 6:00pm, plus scheduled visits by school groups. Additional open hours for the public may be announced by early September.
Download press release here
related event: U.S. Coast Guard 9/11 New York City Response Retrospective on the Intrepid, Sat 9/10, 10 am to 4pm. Open to the public. more info
| Photo by Carolina Salguero |
The Coast Guard estimated that, on the morning of 9/11, between 350,000 and 500,000 people were evacuated from lower Manhattan by water during just a few hours.
Particularly noteworthy is that the process was started spontaneously by the operators of the boats themselves. Within hours, five Coast Guard cutters, 12 small boats, and more than 100 public and private vessels operated on scene. For four days following the attacks, the boats continued to provide rescue workers with fuel, crucial supplies, and river water for firefighting.
The marine role continued, largely unsung, for months as all the rubble - 2,400 barges or 93,346 trucks' worth was removed from Manhattan by water, save for the ritual last column which left by truck. The fact that it was removed by water made it possible to finish the job in just eight months, and spare the city incredible truck traffic. In creating the exhibit, PortSide NewYork makes the point that the maritime 9/11 story has workaday implications for New York City as it develops new plans for its waterfront.
To bring home the point, the exhibit will be mounted on a ship docked at a pier from which Ground Zero rubble was removed. PortSide will mount the exhibit on the former U.S. Lighthouse Tender Lilac, at Hudson River Park’s Pier 25, at North Moore Street, New York City in partnership with the non-profit Lilac Preservation Project
The exhibit will include photography and oral history by the award-winning photojournalist Carolina Salguero, who went on to found PortSide NewYork, plus contributions from vessel crews, and other institutions.
| Photo by Carolina Salguero |
Related talk:
On Wednesday, September 14, from 7:00-8:30pm a related talk will be given by Carolina Salguero (www.carolinasalguero.com) and journalist Jessica DuLong (www.jessicadulong.com), author of the critically acclaimed My River Chronicles: Rediscovering the Work That Built America, and chief engineer of retired New York City Fireboat John J. Harvey (www.fireboat.org), which was called back into service to supply firefighters with Hudson River water—the only water available for days following the towers' collapse. DuLong and her Fireboat Harvey crewmates were recognized in the Congressional Record for valor in aiding FDNY’s rescue efforts, and appear as characters in Maira Kalman’s award-winning children’s book FIREBOAT: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey.
| The Lilac where the exhibit will be installed |
As a ship-based museum, our role is to educate New Yorkers about our maritime heritage, and the story of the heroic role of mariners in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks has received little attention," said Lilac's Museum Director, Mary Habstritt. "We are really honored to help recognize their contributions and to share this story on board a ship, at Pier 25, which itself played a role as a shipping point for debris removal."
Carolina Salguero, Founder & Director of PortSide NewYork said “I was really concerned that the story of the 9/11 maritime evacuation was so overlooked. That was one of the things that prompted me to found PortSide NewYork as a way to bring attention to the waterways. Doing this exhibit is a way to both commemorate what happened ten years ago and to help the city move forward with its new waterfront plan Vision 2020. PortSide hopes, that by illuminating how those boats worked ten years ago—and the impediments they found—we can help the city better plan its future waterfront for both good days and bad."
"It's an honor to help share the largely untold story of the maritime community's contribution in New York City's hour of greatest need," said Jessica DuLong, chief engineer Fireboat John J. Harvey and author My River Chronicles, "The spontaneous mobilization was truly remarkable, but for mariners it's just a part of the job. Among those who work on the water the notion that panic leads to peril is as deeply ingrained as the tradition of helping those in need."
"It's an honor to help share the largely untold story of the maritime community's contribution in New York City's hour of greatest need," said Jessica DuLong, chief engineer Fireboat John J. Harvey and author My River Chronicles, "The spontaneous mobilization was truly remarkable, but for mariners it's just a part of the job. Among those who work on the water the notion that panic leads to peril is as deeply ingrained as the tradition of helping those in need."
The exhibit includes:
Photography of the maritime evacuation:
- featuring the work of Carolina Salguero, Founder + Director of PortSide NewYork and an award-winning photojournalist. More about Salguero's reporting from ground zero in this video
- Photographs from Rich Naruszewicz, Captain of the New York Fast Ferry "Finest" evacuating people during 9/11 and former tankerman on PortSide's Mary A. Whalen
- Photographs from crew of the retired fireboat John J. Harvey which served at ground zero.
Photography of rubble removal
- by Carolina Salguero of Pier 25, North River and Pier 6, East River.
Oral history
- Of tug crews who evacuated people and removed rubble gathered by Carolina Salguero
Videos:
- MARAD video "Rescue at Water’s Edge,” a 10th anniversary tribute to the Merchant Mariners who sailed directly into harm’s way on September 11 and evacuated more 300,000 people by water.
- Video by Mike Mazzei, dockbuilder who worked at 9/11 rubble removal site on Pier 25
- Center for National Policy new video "Boatlift" the story of the armada of civilian watercraft which came together with no prior planning to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people from lower Manhattan on 9/11. It was the largest sealift ever – greater even than at Dunkirk during World War I
More about PortSide NewYork www.portsidenewyork.org
PortSide NewYork is a young, innovative non-profit organization. Our mission is to show New York City better ways to use the BlueSpace, or water part of the waterfront, to educate the public and policy makers about the waterfront, and to help revitalize our home neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn while doing that.
We promote sustainable waterfront planning that increases use of the water. This includes fostering waterborne transportation, the greenest way to move people and goods, and providing educational, cultural, and social service programs for the community on a water theme. PortSide engages in harbor advocacy and runs an H2O Arts program that offers ship tours, talks, walks, readings, concerts, movies, and performing arts.
We use a historic ship, the coastal oil tanker Mary A. Whalen, as our office, mobile cultural platform, and teaching tool. She was built in 1938 and is 172' long. She is famous for her role in incidents leading to the 1975 Supreme Court decision U.S. vs Reliable Transfer.
More about the Lilac Preservation Project: www.Lilacpreservationproject.org
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. Lilac is on the National Register of Historic Places and is eligible to become a National Historic Landmark. The ship is owned by the non-profit Lilac Preservation Project.
Related 9/11 info:
Related 9/11 info:
Event: US Coast Guard 9/11 New York City Response Retrospective, Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum. Saturday 9/10 10 am to 4pm. Open to the public. more info
Coast Guard 9/11 oral history project:
- Rear Admiral Richard E. Bennis, Commander, Coast Guard Activities NY, Captain of the Port
- Lieutenant Michael Day, Chief, Waterways Oversight Branch, Coast Guard Activities New York
Directions
Hudson River Park's Pier 25. Cross West Street at N. Moore St. or Harrison St.
Subway
1 at Canal Street and Franklin St.
A,C,E at Canal St.
1,2,3 at Chambers St.
1 at Canal Street and Franklin St.
A,C,E at Canal St.
1,2,3 at Chambers St.
Bus
M20 and M22
M20 and M22
Sponsors:
Exhibit Design + Planning
provided pro bono by
provided pro bono by
Paul S. Alter
Lee H. Skolnick Architecture +
Design Partnership
Lee H. Skolnick Architecture +
Design Partnership
To join our sponsors of this exhibit
Please get in touch with PortSide NewYork
Carolina Salguero, Director
917-414-0565
portsidenewyork@gmail.com