That guy has been running boats in Sheepshead Bay for as long as I can remember. There were quite a few head boats from Sheepshead Bay that made the ride out to the west side to bring supplies in and people out of lower Manhattan that day.
...after the buildings fell, and some guy called his wife to take his boat over to the pier to pick him and his co-workers (about 3 others). They guy refused to take anyone else, including a very pregnant woman. The boat was a pretty big fishing boat (charter size almost), it easily could have taken 10 more people.
The whole pier was screaming at him to at least take the pregnant woman so he finally did. What a hero.
RE: I ran to one of the Seaport piers that day....
...after the buildings fell, and some guy called his wife to take his boat over to the pier to pick him and his co-workers (about 3 others). They guy refused to take anyone else, including a very pregnant woman. The boat was a pretty big fishing boat (charter size almost), it easily could have taken 10 more people.
The whole pier was screaming at him to at least take the pregnant woman so he finally did. What a hero.
I don't think it's a surprise that you see just as many cowardly and selfish acts in the face of harrowing situations as you will see heroic and selfless acts. It's sad but completely human.
Watching the video, I had no idea there were so many boats
...there certainly weren't any that went up the East River. I was on the pier until about 1pm, an besides that guy's wife, the only ship that came by was one of those big gray DEP ships. The said they'd drop us off in NJ. I lived in Queens so I passed. As far as I knew, I wouldn't be able to get back to NY for days.
and as the first tower went down, I just headed West to get out to the ferry. There really wasn't a plan, I heard from some of my co-workers who lived in NJ that was what they were going to do, so I did it as well. I remember asking what it would cost to get on, and one of the workers looked at me like I was nuts and said, this is a rescue, it's free, everyone get on. There was no panic, no pushing, it was very orderly. They dropped us off at Weehawken and I was living in Hackensack at the time. I started to walk and that was the first and only time in my life that I "hitch hiked" as a van pulled over and offered to take me and a few other guys further up to Fort Lee, where I made my way to their high school and had a friend pick me up. Surreal day, but I remember how well the ferries got us out of there.
When we had the blackout a few years later, I headed right back to the boats again, but this time, they were jammed up and I ended up taking a tour bus through the completely dark Lincoln Tunnel to Hoboken and then a train home.
in Chelsea for a much needed beer, and then walked north again. I made it to Time Square I guess around 6pm. Completely deserted. No one there. Rush hour on a Tuesday, and not a soul on the sidewalks, streets, stores, anywhere.
I walked right down the middle of 7th avenue. Completely surreal.
I was working in Manhattan during the 1993 WTC bombing
Commuted by bus out of the Port Authority. Obviously PATH was down, which meant everyone had to get to NJ through the PA. Unlike anything I had experienced. Place was totally jammed. But it was so different than when 2 busses stall going into the Lincoln Tunnel and everything backs up. When that happened people used to tanked in the bars while waiting, try to cut into lines, get into arguments etc. etc. That day totally different. Totally calm. People waited patiently on lines. Nobody tried to cut. Attitude was "Trying to fuck with me? Well guess what, I can handle it."
I had a couple of very similar observations. I worked up the block from the Seaport, but was heading uptown to get my wife. I remember thinking it was surreal, like being in a movie. Then I corrected my own thought. In a movie, their would be crowds of screaming lunatics running all over. The actual scene throughout Manhattan was one of order. A lot of that probably had to do with everyone being in a state of disbelief. But, even being in the street a few blocks away when the 2nd tower fell, it was pretty orderly. The police were AMAZING!
Likewise, that was the first and only time I ever hitch hiked. A minivan of people heading up 1st Avenue picked me up in the teens. One of the people had a box of Krispy Kreme donuts she was supposed to bring to work, so instead we all shared some sweets. About 30 minutes later we had only gone about 10 blocks, so I got out and continued walking uptown. But, I will always remember the kindness of strangers that day.
went in to canvass city hospitals for our friend who was among the missing. We went to the ferry in Weehawken and waited on the incoming boat. It pulled up and we saw that it was completely filled with a couple of hundred rescue personnel in full gear coming over after a shift at Ground Zero. These guys were just covered in dusty debris. Everyone on the dock just burst into applause for them as they disembarked, but there wasn't a smile to be found among them. They all just looked sadly numbed.
is how little proper equipment or logistical support the Ground Zero workers received, one of the reasons they ended looking as Crispino described, and a key reaqson so many ended up with fatal or life-threatening illneses.
I had one friend who provided her brownstone on Spring Street as a repository of contributed supplies and equipment, and she was harassed legally for many months by FEMA and the NYC DEP, even as Ground Zero workers streamed to her building for equipment--including bottled water--they couldn't get enough of elsewhere.
Another lost his career as an Army Reserve Colonel because he jumped in to provide much-needed logistical support and knowledge on 9/11 and subsequent days, going against orders. FEMA and the DEP created a bunch of lies about his behavior that eventually got him drummed out.
Link - ( New Window )
The whole pier was screaming at him to at least take the pregnant woman so he finally did. What a hero.
The whole pier was screaming at him to at least take the pregnant woman so he finally did. What a hero.
I don't think it's a surprise that you see just as many cowardly and selfish acts in the face of harrowing situations as you will see heroic and selfless acts. It's sad but completely human.
There's a scene in the film where the Coast Guard is telling boats to organize at Governor's Island. That probably wasn't visible from the seaport.
When we had the blackout a few years later, I headed right back to the boats again, but this time, they were jammed up and I ended up taking a tour bus through the completely dark Lincoln Tunnel to Hoboken and then a train home.
I walked right down the middle of 7th avenue. Completely surreal.
Likewise, that was the first and only time I ever hitch hiked. A minivan of people heading up 1st Avenue picked me up in the teens. One of the people had a box of Krispy Kreme donuts she was supposed to bring to work, so instead we all shared some sweets. About 30 minutes later we had only gone about 10 blocks, so I got out and continued walking uptown. But, I will always remember the kindness of strangers that day.
I had one friend who provided her brownstone on Spring Street as a repository of contributed supplies and equipment, and she was harassed legally for many months by FEMA and the NYC DEP, even as Ground Zero workers streamed to her building for equipment--including bottled water--they couldn't get enough of elsewhere.
Another lost his career as an Army Reserve Colonel because he jumped in to provide much-needed logistical support and knowledge on 9/11 and subsequent days, going against orders. FEMA and the DEP created a bunch of lies about his behavior that eventually got him drummed out.