'Merchant Mariners Delivered’: Remembering the 9/11 Boatlift 25 Years Later

U.S. Maritime Administrator Stephen Carmel on Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks by honoring the merchant mariners who answered an extraordinary call for help and helped carry hundreds of thousands of people out of Lower Manhattan by water.

When the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard issued a call across New York Harbor for “all available boats” to assist with the evacuation.

“And merchant mariners delivered,” Carmel said in a message marking the anniversary.

What followed became one of the most remarkable maritime rescue efforts in U.S. history. As smoke poured