On Sept. 11, 2001, the bridges were closed, the tunnels were closed, and the subways dead. The call from Coast Guard Lieutenant Michael Day came over the radio: “All available boats. This is the United States Coast Guard. Anyone wanting to help with the evacuation of Lower Manhattan, report to Governors Island.”

Ferry captains, tugboat crews, dinner-cruise operators, schooner owners — the entire working harbor dropped what it was doing and turned toward the smoke. It is reported that in under nine hours, roughly 800 American mariners on about 150 vessels moved nearly 500,000 people off an island that had, for the first time in over a century, no way out except by water. It remains the largest waterborne evacuation in history — 50% more people than Dunkirk, safely evacuated in a fraction of the time.