The 9/11 Boatlift: The Largest Maritime Evacuation in History

On May 26, 1940, the evacuation of Dunkirk began as German forces closed in on Allied troops trapped along the French coast. By June 4, approximately 338,000 British, French and Belgian soldiers had been evacuated across the English Channel. Hundreds of civilian vessels joined military ships in the desperate operation, carrying troops away from the beaches and back to Britain. Dunkirk became the most famous maritime evacuation in history.

Then, 61 years later, it happened again, but this time the battlefield was New York City.

At 8:46 a.m. on September 11, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:03, United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. As the attacks unfolded, Lower Manhattan became increasingly isolated. Bridges and tunnels were closed, mass transportation shut down, and hundreds of thousands of people were suddenly stranded on the southern end of Manhattan with limited ways to escape. 

And then something remarkable began happening in the harbor.

Before a formal evacuation operation was fully organized, mariners were already moving toward Manhattan. Tugboat captains, ferry crews, excursion boats, private vessels and other commercial operators saw the crowds along the waterfront and began taking people aboard. They did not have a master plan. They did not know how many people needed to be rescued or whether another attack was coming. They simply saw people trapped on shore and went toward them. Then the Coast Guard issued its famous call: “All available boats. This is the United States Coast Guard. Any boat available, get to the Battery. Assist in the evacuation of lower Manhattan.” The response turned an improvised rescue into a coordinated maritime evacuation.

More than 100 public and private vessels, supported by Coast Guard personnel, NYPD harbor units and FDNY fireboats, converged on Lower Manhattan. Coast Guard marine inspectors helped manage passenger loading while crews repeatedly crossed the harbor. The 9/11 Memorial estimates that between 300,000 and 500,000 people were transported to safety in less than 9 hours. The Coast Guard records more than 500,000 evacuated in less than 8 hours and calls it the largest maritime evacuation in recorded history.

More than 800 mariners on roughly 125 to 150 vessels took part, with the fleet ranging from massive ferries and tugboats to small private craft. The Staten Island Ferry alone transported more than 50,000 people while also bringing emergency personnel and supplies back toward Manhattan. The retired FDNY fireboat John J. Harvey helped evacuate civilians before becoming part of the firefighting effort, supplying water to crews at Ground Zero after the collapse damaged the city's water system.

Captain Richard Thornton was operating the NY Waterway ferry Henry Hudson that morning. After seeing smoke rising from the World Trade Center, he turned back toward Manhattan. He and his crew ultimately made 20 round trips between Weehawken and Manhattan. Years later, Thornton summed up why he kept going: “There’s no place I’d rather have been than behind the wheel of a ferry boat working on 9/11.”

Captain Vincent Ardolino of the Amberjack V expressed the same instinct in different words: “Even if I save one person or I rescue one person, that’s one person less who will suffer and die.”

Dunkirk rescued an army from destruction. New York rescued civilians from a city under attack. Dunkirk moved approximately 338,000 Allied troops over 9 days. The 9/11 boatlift moved nearly 500,000 civilians in less than 9 hours. Former Coast Guard Commandant Adm. James Loy later described the New York operation simply as “bigger than Dunkirk.”

Twenty five years later, we remember the towers, the smoke, the firefighters, the victims and the extraordinary courage shown that day. We should also remember what happened on the water. There was no single heroic vessel and no single person responsible. There was a harbor full of people who saw their fellow Americans trapped on shore and decided to help.