The Ship Report: Boatlift: a heroic maritime response to 9/11

The Ship Report, Thursday, September 10, 2026

Today we remember a tragic day in US history: September 11, 2001, when terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington DC. A third hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, commandeered by heroic passengers, who took the plan down rather than let it complete its terrible mission, which was to hit the US Capitol Building.

In the midst of terrible chaos and destruction, an amazing rescue mission unfolded in NY Harbor: Boatlift, organized by the Coast Guard.

They called all available boats in the waters of metropolitan NY and New Jersey to help evacuate people stranded after the towers fell. What resulted was a supreme act of spontaneous mariner heroism, as boat after boat converged on the southern end of Manhattan, to help evacuate hundreds of thousands of survivors from the island.

In the midst of tragedy, our mariners showed us the best we can be.

Link to the film Boatlift: https://youtu.be/MDOrzF7B2Kg?si=Wa5CQ4oJMw_baJDX

Image: USACE NY, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Caption: Patrol Boat Hocking heads toward lower Manhattan on 9/11 to provide assistance following the attacks on the World Trade Center. PB Hocking was one of many U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessels from various Districts that were on the waters of the New York and New Jersey Harbor that day helping to ferry evacuees from lower Manhattan and bringing in emergency responders on return trips. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers file photo)

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