BOATLIFT - An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

[taherrmann4]

I had never seen or heard about this. Really neat video worth watching.

 

[CJ's POND]

Thank you for sharing that video. I had never heard anything about that part of the 911 rescue.....God bless those people & their boats... That was an amazing show of great organization when under pressure {something our government should study} Seeing footage of any 9/11 rescue, even to this day, has always made me proud of American's, cause it shows the side of us {US} that everyone should know is alive... right here...everywhere, in the US of A. Thanks tah-man for helping me start my day with good thoughts.

 

[HARO]

Thanks, Todd, for a great start to my day! Kinda renews your faith in people, doesn't it? John

 

[fishin4cars]

Thanks for posting! I've never seen or heard anything about that part of 9/11, Very touching and inspirational, makes me even prouder to be an AMERICAN.

 

[addy1]

thank you so much for posting, tmann

 

[CometKeith]

tmann, It's an amazing story, but the fact is they probably broke every maritime law there was about how many people a boat can safely hold and the safety systems required for those passengers. It raises an interesting question about when it is okay to break the law and is probably why this story was kept under wraps for some time. If these people were deemed not in imminent danger and a boat capsized, that coast guard captain would probably be in jail now. See the Eastland disaster in Chicago in 1915 when 844 people died after a ferry capsized. http://genealogytrails.com/ill/cook/eastlanddisaster.html

 

[CJ's POND]

In the report it says that this ship had a history of instability....Using a ship with a history of instability was irresponsible.
During 911, the cost guard, had to make leadership decisions & I am glad {& confident} that they were experienced enough to make the right one. Hind sight is 100%...no one knew when the attacks would end, let alone who was attacking. There were many boat captains {owners} who were involved in this. The coast guard saw the need to bring organization to the situation & responded quickly. No responsible person could, would, SHOULD find fault in this operation.

 

[HARO]

You mean YOUR government is run by RESPONSIBLE people????? Ours is mostly lawyers! John

 

[CometKeith]

CJ, I wasn't finding fault. A good friend of ours lost their aunt in 911 and I am aware of the horrendous impact it had on both individual families and our nation. I'm just saying it is not always clear when it is okay to break the law. I was the captain of a sailboat here in Chicago and always was very conscious of what I needed to do to keep my passengers safe. If the boats were overloaded with passengers during the 911 evacuation and something bad happened some people would have second guessed if it was the right thing to do. There are boat safety laws for a reason. Re the Eastland disaster it was still approved to hold over 1000 people because they lowered the passenger limit to keep it safe. Accidents can happen. It is important to have a life preserver for every passenger. A five year old drowned this summer on a pier here while walking with his family because his parents didn't bother putting on his life vest before they got to their boat. http://articles.chicagobreakingnews...jackson-park-harbor-comer-children-s-hospital

 

[CJ's POND]

CometKeith, I understand you were not faulting the rescue or the people. You made a personal observation & yes accidents happen & no, it is not always clear when breaking a law is okay, life sometimes is not always clear.....I am just encouraged that there are humans out there, with the ability to think clearly & respond rationally & quickly in very unordinary situation....The decision to use judgement & experience & "break a law" was clear to them at that time & place...Your two examples are an entirely different matter. Different situations. But this makes for a good healthy decussion..don't you think.

 

[CometKeith]

yes it is a good discussion because most people assume that laws should not be broken. There is usually not a asterisk by a law that gives examples when you don't have to follow it. Is it legal to speed to a hospital with an expectant mother that is due any minute? No asterisk by speed limits with exceptions so you can't do it. CJ i'm sure it was the right thing to do, but it was breaking the law nonetheless and probably why no one publicized it afterward. If I witnessed the World Trade Center collapsing in terrorist attacks I'm sure I would be thinking outside of the box too. A year after 911 my family was caught in a terrible storm on Lake Shore drive in Chicago. The sky was orange, there were strong winds whipping off the lake, and visibility in our car was close to 0 feet because of really heavy rain. We made the decision to get off the road and like a miracle we were able to pull under a drive in a covered area at McCormick Place convention center. Within minutes security showed up and threatened that if we didn't immediately move our car we would be arrested including my daughter who was 8 at the time. We explained to them how dangerous it was to drive, but they said we were breaking the law by staying there and we decided to go back into the storm rather than face arrest. I think at the time all the stories from 911 were still fresh in my mind about how people helped other people in times of distress. It didn't make sense to me at the time that the security people couldn't understand our predicament and expected us to follow the law even if we were forced into a dangerous situation because of it. Obviously they were concerned about terrorist attacks so there were no exceptions for us that day.