Status: 11.09.2021 3:50 a.m.
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In an unplanned operation, ferries brought half a million people to safety, who fled from the collapsing twin towers. Who are the people behind this rescue – and how did it succeed?
By Antje Passenheim, ARD-Studio New York
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At 8:40 a.m. on September 11, 2001, Captain Peter Johansen boarded the ferry. With hundreds of commuters who want to cross the Hudson – from New Jersey to Manhattan. Normally Johansen himself would have steered the ship towards the skyline. But today he only goes with us. He’s in a meeting with the Coast Guard. Right next to the World Trade Center. The sky is blue. A sound does not belong there, however. “And I look to the left and suddenly see the first plane going into the north tower.” Johansen makes radio contact with his headquarters: “There was a navigation accident. An airplane has flown into a tower. We have to bring all the ferries there to help with the evacuation.” He knows: Whenever something happens downtown, the overland route is tight. There is only one escape route: across the water. The ship sets course for Pier 11.
Antje Passenheim
ARD-Studio New York
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In the shadow of the World Trade Center, Stefan Jekel sits in a wing of the New York Stock Exchange. The native of Wiesbaden has no idea what is happening next door. In the well-insulated office space, they haven’t even heard the bang. He remembers: “All of a sudden we saw papers fluttering down in front of the window. We were still thinking of a dump card campaign.”
Stefan Jekel got on one of the boats.
Photo: private
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“Nobody knew what was happening”
Jessica DuLong lives in Brooklyn. You can see the financial district across the East River from here. DuLong was chief engineer of the ship “John J. Harvey”. Now she rarely works on the retired ship. DuLong is also a publicist and historian. When her phone rings that morning, she is sitting at the computer. “It’s hard to describe how it felt that day,” she says today. “Nobody knew what was happening. The closer you were to horror, the less you knew. The people who saw this on TV got a better picture.”
Captain Johansen watches as the ferry empties. People still think this will be a normal day at the office. At 09:03 a United Airlines plane is heading for the second tower. Johansen is clear: “This wasn’t a navigational error. It was an attack.” Wall Street alarm. The towers spit thousands of people into the street. Each office team heads for their assembly point. Börsenmann Jekel makes his way to Battery Park, on the quay wall in the south.
On the “Henry Hudson”, Captain Rick Thornton from New Jersey approaches. The passengers stare in disbelief at the smoking twin towers. “As we got closer, we saw people jumping. At first we thought: They are throwing furniture out of the windows to smash it and let the smoke out.” Thornton doesn’t think twice. He empties the ferry at the next pier and turns – to the southern tip. “There were thousands of people fleeing who didn’t know where to go. Many just jumped into the water. Others were pushed to the railing, like at a rock concert. Everything pushed from behind. They had nowhere to go. They looked out over the water and hoped for rescue . “
Captain Thornton: “When we got closer, we saw people jumping.”
Image: Stephanie Ott
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“All available boats!”
In Washington, the head of the US Coast Guard is brought out of a meeting. While Admiral James Loy is on the phone with New York, a plane hits the Pentagon in Arlington. Loy feels the shock as far as Washington. The Coast Guard can do little there. Unlike on Manhattan Island. Loy orders an emergency call: “All available boats!” They are supposed to come to save the people of the southern tip of Manhattan. Hundreds of them are already working on their own: ferries, water taxis, yachts, fishing boats. Nobody coordinates them. All drive on sight and reason. “Nobody shied away from the danger,” says Loy. “Bombs could go off. Ships could collide. We didn’t know what was to come.”
The John J. Harvey will also be brought out of retirement. Jessica DuLong will ride later. Before that, she took on a completely different role: she becomes the chronicler of a story that is so amazingly overlooked in the stories about September 11th. “It’s so incredible,” she says. “Half a million people were brought to safety by boat in nine hours – in a completely unplanned operation.”
Captain Thornton sees more and more people climb over the railing to jump on the ferry. It can hold 400 people. “But there were still thousands who wanted to be part of it.” He is overwhelmed with their consideration. “There was this blind woman with her German shepherd. She was pressed to the railing and didn’t even know what was happening to her. Then four businessmen came and carried her over the heads of the people onto the ferry. And her dog after them.”
Don’t panic, no hysteria
Captain Johansen’s ferry leaves Pier 11. The captain has stayed ashore with those waiting. “I had to prevent the boats from being overloaded. I held people back. When a boat came, I let them up.” People join in. “Nobody pushed their way across the line. They were all so happy to get out of there.” And the captain thinks, “It was the best side of the people in this disaster.”
No panic. No hysteria. For Stefan Jekel, it is the calm that makes everything so eerie. All are mute. Even when the south tower collapses. The gray cloud slowly pushes itself towards the water. The poison creeps. It is difficult to breathe. Jekel has his sports bag with him. “I handed out T-shirts so that people could hold them in front of their faces. Shortly afterwards, he can get on the boat.” From the water we saw the picture more completely. But nobody could handle it. “Jekel is staying with relatives in New Jersey. He can only return to Manhattan three days later. He is not aware for a long time that he was part of the largest maritime rescue operation in the USA.
Jessica DuLong immortalized the rescue story in a book.
Image: Miriam Braun
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A largely untold story
“Boatlift 9/11” remains a largely untold story. To date, no US president has honored its heroes. Jessica DuLong immortalized them in a book 20 years later. “That we talk so little about it is a major oversight,” she says. “Because such stories can help us and show what is possible when we recognize the humanity that is common to us. Perhaps we would be a different country today if we recognized our mutual dependence.”
“We just did what we had to do.” When Captain Thornton says this, a horn sounds behind him. It’s the “Henry Hudson”. Whenever your captains see him, say hello to the captain who steered this ferry through the smoke of 9/11. Sometimes passengers speak to him as well. “You are the captain who saved me with his ship.” He has to swallow while telling this. “It always happens so suddenly. You see them years later. And they make you realize: It was all worth it.”
9/11 Boat Lift: An Unknown Story of Saving Humanity
Antje Passenheim, ARD New York, August 28, 2021 12:46 am
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