‘All Available Boats’ Showcases Maritime Union Members on 9/11 (2006)

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/07/09/%E2%80%98all-available-boats%E2%80%99-showcases-maritime-union-members-on-911/

by Mike Hall, Jul 9, 2006

The brutal images of terrorist destruction on Sept. 11, 2001, are burned into our collective memories.

But there are other images from that day that most of us didn’t see. Among those: New York’s tugboats, ferries, fireboats, work boats and private pleasure boasts evacuating more than 300,000 people from Lower Manhattan on the day the terrorists’ planes took down the Twin Towers, killing nearly 2,800 people.

Through photographs, video and audio, a new exhibit in New York City, “All Available Boats: Harbor Voices and Images 9-11-01,” tells the story of the biggest waterborne evacuation since 1940.

Presented by the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI), the multimedia exhibit describes how the maritime community in boats crewed by members of the Seafarers (SIU), Marine Engineers, Masters, Mates and Pilots, Fire Fighters, Longshoreman and other unions moved survivors—many of them injured—to safety.

Shortly after the first plane hit the North Tower, the Coast Guard put out the call for “all available boats.” Capt. Kirk Slater, an SIU member, and two SIU deckhands on the New York Water Ways ferry West New York were among those who answered the call.

In 2001, Slater told the AFL-CIO magazine America@work that before the second plane hit the South Tower, the West New York had made two trips loaded with evacuees when:

I looked up and saw the second plane go right into the Trade Center… I heard this rumble. The first building came down, came down fast. It was a crystal-clear day, but this huge cloud was approaching us. I had a full load, so I got out of there fast. But it engulfed us, like the worst fog.

The smoke and debris forced many boats to operate by radar to find their way to the Manhattan docks. But as “All Available Boats” shows, that didn’t slow the incredible and efficient rescue efforts by the maritime community.

The exhibit runs through Sept. 30 at the SCI’s Water Street Gallery. Click here for more information and here to learn more about the SCI. To read more stories about how union members responded to the 9/11 attacks and how some lost their lives, click here.