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.

“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? Readers of this fast-paced book will not forget it again. Jessica DuLong brings this extraordinary episode to vivid, poignant life, using both literary and maritime expertise.” —Adam Hochschild, bestselling author of King Leopold’s Ghost “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.” —Mark Kramer, Founding Director, Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism, Harvard University The captivating saga of the September 11th boat lift, when tugs, ferries, dinner boats, and other vessels spontaneously converged to rescue nearly 500,000 stranded people from Manhattan When terrorists took down the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, frightened people crowded along the shores of Lower Manhattan. With the dust and fires spreading, no one knew if more attacks were coming. Chaos reigned. Dust to Deliverance is the gripping story of how the New York harbor maritime community converged spontaneously to deliver stranded commuters, residents, and visitors out of harm’s way. Even before the Coast Guard called for “all available boats,” ferries, charter yachts, dinner boats, tugs, and other vessels had raced across New York harbor to pick up passengers. In less than nine hours, they rescued nearly half a million people from Lower Manhattan, making this the largest waterborne evacuation in history. Rooted in eyewitness accounts and written by a mariner who served at Ground Zero, Dust to Deliverance interweaves the personal stories of people saved that day with those who saved them, while revealing the inner workings of New York harbor and its close-knit community. This groundbreaking, minute-by-minute chronicle provides an unprecedented look at one of the most significant moments in American history. This human saga of compassion, triumph, and resilience reveals how tragedy creates new, often unlikely, alliances, even as it strengthens existing bonds. The book brings to light the resourcefulness and resounding human goodness that rise up in response to darkness, calamity, and turmoil.

After journalist Jessica DuLong was laid off from her dot-com job, her life took an unexpected turn. A volunteer day aboard an antique fireboat, the John J. Harvey, led to a job in the engine room, where she found a taste of home she hadn’t realized she was missing. Working with the boat’s finely crafted machinery, on the waters of the storied Hudson, made her wonder what America is losing in our shift away from hands-on work. Her questions crystallized after she and her crew served at Ground Zero, where fireboats provided the only water available to fight blazes. Vivid and immediate, My River Chronicles is a journey with an extraordinary guide—a mechanic’s daughter and Stanford graduate who bridges blue-collar and white-collar worlds, turning a phrase as deftly as she does a wrench. As she searches for the meaning of work in America, DuLong shares her own experiences of learning to navigate a traditionally male world, masterfully interweaving unforgettable present-day characters and events with four centuries of Hudson River history. A celebration of craftsmanship, My River Chronicles is a deeply personal story of a unique woman’s discovery of her own roots—and America’s—that raises important questions about our nation’s future.

The Lives They Saved is the story in artifacts and oral histories of the 300,000 New Yorkers who were evacuated from Manhattan on 9/11…by boat. It is a story that has not yet been written about or told. It includes hundreds of oral histories and many photographs of this high drama, set against the terrifying backdrop of the day when the Earth stood still, every airport in the U.S. was closed down, and Manhattan was seized by gridlock. , For perspective, the boatlift that saved Britain’s expeditionary force from the beaches of Dunkirk removed approximately the same number of people: 300,000. ,

There's a hole running through the centre of my stomach. You must have all felt a bit awkward because you can probably see it. Sea Wall is a delicate monologue, completely devastating and beautifully powerful. Alex's story, spoken directly to the audience, begins full of clear light and smiles, as he speaks about his wife, visiting her father in the South of France, having a daughter, photography, and the bottom of the sea. His tone is natural, happy and engaging, with flickers of questions about belief and religion glimpsed under the surface. But his contentment falls away into deep and heart-breaking grief, crumbling to pieces with a vividness that is incredibly moving.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, as the World Trade Center tragedy unfolded, thousands of men and women on or near the waters of New York harbor converged to help in any way possible. Answering the U.S. Coast Guard's radio call for "all available boats," hundreds of vessels of all types raced across the Hudson and East Rivers and the Upper Bay of New York harbor. Over the course of the day, these boats would evacuate over 300,000 people from Manhattan, pump water from the harbor to feed hoses, bring in needed supplies, rescue people in the water, and carry firefighters, police, and medical and emergency service workers to Ground Zero. This is their story.

On the azure blue morning of 9/11 the skies were pronounced "severe clear," in the parlance of airline pilots; a gorgeous day for flying. Nearly 5,000 flights were cruising the skies over America when FAA Operations Manager Ben Sliney arrived at the Command Center for his first day on that job. He could never have anticipated the historic drama that was about to unfold as Americans who found themselves on the front lines of a totally unprecedented attack on our homeland sprang into action to defend our country and save lives. In this gripping moment-to-moment narrative, based on groundbreaking reporting, Lynn Spencer brings the inspiring true drama of their unflinching and heroic response vividly to life for the first time, taking us right inside the airliner cockpits and control towers, the fighter jets and the military battle cabs. She makes vital corrections to the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report, and reveals many startling, utterly unknown elements of the story. As a commercial pilot herself, for whom the attacks hit terribly close to home, she knew that the true scope and nature of the response so brilliantly improvised that morning by those in the thick of the action -- with so little guidance from those at the highest levels -- had not at all been captured by the news coverage or the 9/11 Commission. To get to the truth, she went on a three-year quest, interviewing hundreds of key players, listening to untold hours of tapes and pouring through voluminous transcripts to re-create each heart-stopping moment as it happened through their eyes and in their words as the drama unfolded. From the shocking moment at 7:59 a.m. that American 11 fails to respond to a controller's call, until the last commercial flight has safely landed and military jets rule the skies, all Americans will find themselves deeply moved and amazed by the grace and fierce determination of these steely men and women as they draw on all of their exquisite training to grasp, through the fog of war, what is happening, put their lives on the line, and mount an astonishing response. This beautifully crafted and deeply affecting account of the full story of their courageous actions is a vital addition to the country's understanding of a day that has forever changed our nation.