HANNAH COX: When I Think of 9/11, I Think of Boats Instead of Planes.

We all know the stories of the heroic first responders who rushed into the burning towers, of the Americans who gave their lives to take down Flight 93, of the businessmen who, surrounded by flames from jet fuel, ran up to clear other floors.

But few know the story of how citizens with boats organized themselves to get 500,000 people to safety that morning. Hundreds of vessels—sailboats, fishing boats, cargo ships, even dinner boats— worked for over nine hours that day, answering a call from the US Coast Guard to come to New York Harbor and aid the evacuation. These citizen volunteers largely organized themselves and carried out one of the most successful maritime evacuations in history.

To give a better understanding of the scale of this operation, remember that 338,000 soldiers were evacuated at Dunkirk over nine days. These untrained Americans surpassed that number by over 160,000 in only nine hours.

Hannah’s too young to have read my 2002 column on this,

People at Ground Zero, the Manhattan Waterfront, nearby New Jersey, Staten Island and Brooklyn waterfronts, and crews on the numerous vessels repeatedly used the phrases “just amazing,” “everyone cooperated,” and “just doing what it took” to describe maritime community responses. Individuals stepped up and took charge of specific functions, and captains and crews from other companies took their direction. . . . Private maritime operators kept their vessels onsite and available until Friday, Day Four, when federal authorities took over.

“Day Four, when federal authorities took over.”