9/11 the Largest Maritime Evacuation in World History

After the Towers collapsed thousands of people flooded the Battery Park Station trying to get off the island. The Coast Guard Vehicle Traffic Service New York put out a call on the marine radio for all available boats to travel to the station and begin evacuating people. After a few minutes, Public Affairs Officer Jim McGranachan looked out the habor facing windows. 

"I felt like the German general in that D-day movie The Longest Day, because suddenly through the fog, through the smoke, appear all these boats: ferries and tug boats and Circle Line [sightseeing] boats, all coming towards us."

Dozens of boats lined the seawall in what would become one of the largest marine evacuations in history.  The crews made handmade signs of their destinations: Sandy Hook, Hoboken, Brooklyn, or Staten Island.  Teams of Coast Guard, police, inspectors, and firemen started organizing the people into boarding lines and helped them over the sea wall.  The Coast Guard used the pilot boat, New York, and the harbor tug, Hawser, to direct the boat traffic through the smoke. Working through the morning and into the after the afternoon, the evacuation began to empty around three.

Tens of thousands fled along the Brooklyn Bridge.  Hundreds of thousands were evacuated by sea.  When the evacuation was finished, over half a million had been evacuated. Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard, America's Forgotten Heroes By David Helvarg pg 80-82