Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift

by Jessica DuLong, Mitchell Zuckoff (Foreword by)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501759123
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2021
Pages:	270
Sales rank:	329,609
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

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

What People are Saying About This

Garrett Graff

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.

Mark Kramer

In this beautifully written and compassionate account, infused with dread and wonder, DuLong delivers meticulous reporting, human-scale and panoramic, that reframes 9/11. This enheartening chronicle of endurance and kindness, as wonderfully engineered and brilliantly executed as the waterborne rescue itself, proffers an evidence-based and hopeful view of humanity.

Adam Hochschild

A waterborne evacuation larger than Dunkirk in New York Harbor? How come we barely noticed this at the time, and have largely forgotten about it since? Jessica DuLong brings this extraordinary episode to vivid, poignant life, using both literary and maritime expertise.

Kenneth T. Jackson

On New York City's darkest day, the captains and crew of hundreds of boats took to safety as many as half a million survivors of the World Trade Center attack. No one has told this incredible story better than Jessica DuLong. Saved at the Seawall is a moving page-turner.

Ann L. Buttenwieser

Jessica DuLong takes a deep dive into what took place on 9/11 in the waters surrounding the World Trade Center Towers. The horrific stories she shares remain hopeful and inspiring. Saved at the Seawall is a compelling read and shows humanity at its best.

Mitchell Zuckoff

DuLong's remarkable book has brought to the surface long-overlooked tales of heroism and sacrifice, recounting the actions and sharing the character of a community response to tragedy as immediate and impressive as any in history. By taking to the water, a fitting decision considering her own rich history on the Hudson River, DuLong has applied her hard-earned maritime knowledge in the name of honoring the men and women who answered the ancient code that compels mariners to proceed with all speed to a distress call.

Editorial Reviews

The details are palpable, and told with skill.

tugster: a waterblog

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

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

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

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"

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"

The details are palpable, and told with skill.

-- "tugster: a waterblog"

From the Publisher

"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."

New Books Network