Saved at the Seawall
Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift
Published on 15. May 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
277 pages
978-1-5017-5912-3 (ISBN)
Description
"Saved at the Seawall is the greatest 9/11 story you've never heard. Jessica DuLong's impressive, vital work has preserved one of 9/11's most dramatic and least-known stories. Now future generations will forever know of the courage and spirit of New York's mariners." - Garrett Graff, author of The Only Plane in the Sky
Saved at the Seawall is the definitive history of the largest ever waterborne evacuation.
Jessica DuLong reveals the dramatic story of how the New York Harbor maritime community heroically delivered stranded commuters, residents, and visitors out of harm's way. Even before the US Coast Guard called for "all available boats," tugs, ferries, dinner boats, and other vessels had sped to the rescue from points all across New York Harbor. In less than nine hours, captains and crews transported nearly half a million people from Manhattan.
Anchored in eyewitness accounts and written by a mariner who served at Ground Zero, Saved at the Seawall weaves together the personal stories of people rescued that day with those of the mariners who saved them. DuLong describes the inner workings of New York Harbor and reveals the collaborative power of its close-knit community. Her chronicle of those crucial hours, when hundreds of thousands of lives were at risk, highlights how resourcefulness and basic human goodness triumphed over turmoil on one of America's darkest days.
Initially published as Dust to Deliverance, this edition, released in time for the twentieth anniversary, contains new updates: a preface by DuLong and a foreword by Mitchell Zuckoff.
Saved at the Seawall is the definitive history of the largest ever waterborne evacuation.
Jessica DuLong reveals the dramatic story of how the New York Harbor maritime community heroically delivered stranded commuters, residents, and visitors out of harm's way. Even before the US Coast Guard called for "all available boats," tugs, ferries, dinner boats, and other vessels had sped to the rescue from points all across New York Harbor. In less than nine hours, captains and crews transported nearly half a million people from Manhattan.
Anchored in eyewitness accounts and written by a mariner who served at Ground Zero, Saved at the Seawall weaves together the personal stories of people rescued that day with those of the mariners who saved them. DuLong describes the inner workings of New York Harbor and reveals the collaborative power of its close-knit community. Her chronicle of those crucial hours, when hundreds of thousands of lives were at risk, highlights how resourcefulness and basic human goodness triumphed over turmoil on one of America's darkest days.
Initially published as Dust to Deliverance, this edition, released in time for the twentieth anniversary, contains new updates: a preface by DuLong and a foreword by Mitchell Zuckoff.
Reviews / Votes
Saved at the Seawall is more than a book about September 11. It is a story of work, New York Harbor, and how the skills and mindsets that mariners developed over many years were summoned up on a terrible morning.- Robert Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian, "New Books Network" DuLong's carefully researched book chronicles the response from the water and the evacuation efforts as 'boat crews evacuated an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 civilians in less than nine hours,' making it the largest water evacuation in history. DuLong focuses on eyewitness accounts with an unfiltered writing style that captures the quick decision-making required while in the middle of sensory overload, chaos, and devastation.
(Hippocampus Magazine) The details are palpable, and told with skill.
(tugster: a waterblog) It's a fascinating, beautiful, heartbreaking story about the triumph of the human spirit on one of our country's darkest days.
(The Writer's Jam)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Cornell University Press
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
21 b&w halftones, 2 maps - 21 Halftones, black and white - 2 Maps
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
406 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5017-5912-3 (9781501759123)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Jessica DuLong is a journalist, historian, book collaborator, and ghostwriter, as well as chief engineer, emerita of the retired 1931 New York City fireboat, John J. Harvey. Her first book, My River Chronicles, won an American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award for Memoir. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, CNN.com, Newsweek International, Psychology Today, Huffington Post, Newsday, and Maritime Reporter and Engineering News.
Content
PART ONE: The Situation
1. "It was a jet. It was a jet. It was a jet!"
2. "Shut it down! Shut it down!"
3. "NEW YORK CITY CLOSED TO ALL TRAFFIC"
PART TWO: The Evacuation
4. "I was gonna swim to Jersey."
5. "It was like breathing dirt."
6. "We're in the water!"
7. "Gray ghosts"
8. "A sea of boats"
9. "I need a boat."
PART THREE: The Aftermath
10. "We have to tell us what to do."
11. "Sell first, repent later."
12. "Thanks for your help!"
13. "They'd do it again tomorrow."
14. September 11, 2016
Epilogue
1. "It was a jet. It was a jet. It was a jet!"
2. "Shut it down! Shut it down!"
3. "NEW YORK CITY CLOSED TO ALL TRAFFIC"
PART TWO: The Evacuation
4. "I was gonna swim to Jersey."
5. "It was like breathing dirt."
6. "We're in the water!"
7. "Gray ghosts"
8. "A sea of boats"
9. "I need a boat."
PART THREE: The Aftermath
10. "We have to tell us what to do."
11. "Sell first, repent later."
12. "Thanks for your help!"
13. "They'd do it again tomorrow."
14. September 11, 2016
Epilogue