{"id":342919,"date":"2026-09-10T15:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342919\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T15:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T15:34:23","slug":"hero-nyc-ferry-captain-recalls-horror-show-as-he-evacuated-thousands-from-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342919\/","title":{"rendered":"Hero NYC ferry captain recalls ‘horror show’ as he evacuated thousands from 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Captain Rick Thornton was four hours into his Waterway shift on Sept. 11 when he spotted a plume of white smoke<\/a> trailing from the World Trade Center \u2014 and then people frantically jumping into the Hudson River.<\/p>\n

The terrifying news came over the Henry Hudson ferry\u2019s radio waves that a plane had struck the North Tower<\/a>. Thornton and his crew assumed it was an accident \u2014 until they witnessed a massive fireball just 16 minutes later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew this was some kind of crazy coordinated attack,\u201d Thornton, 60, recalled of the horrifying sight from his captain\u2019s pilothouse as his boat floated between New Jersey and Midtown.<\/p>\n

Captain Rick Thornton witnessed the 9\/11 terror attacks from his ferry on the Hudson River. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI just immediately told my crew, \u2018We\u2019re going down there. We\u2019re gonna start evacuating. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thornton was captaining the Henry Hudson, one of the NY Waterway\u2019s 24-vessel fleet that rescued as many as 150,000 people from Manhattan on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n

The Navy veteran abandoned his route and jetted toward the madness without consulting his superiors for permission. Thornton had also been part of the ferry\u2019s massive response for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.<\/p>\n

He and his crew intended to sail directly to Wall Street, but were redirected to Battery Park <\/a>after witnessing dozens of people jumping into the Hudson River in a desperate attempt to escape the \u201chorror show.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Henry Hudson ferry, seen on the river, evacuated thousands from Manhattan. \u00a9 Bob Gruen\/www.bobgruen.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople saw a ferry come in and they just started climbing over the railing along the seawall and swarming onto the boat. My crew, they\u2019re looking up at me, and I say \u2018Just start loading!’\u201d Thornton recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we couldn\u2019t fit any more people, I got on the loudspeaker and I told them, \u2018Don\u2019t worry folks, we\u2019re coming back. We\u2019ve got more boats coming.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as we\u2019re backing away from the seawall, people were still climbing over the rail and jumping across the open water to the boat. It was like that scene in \u2018Titanic\u2019 where they were trying to get on that last lifeboat.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than 500 crying and screaming people packed onto the 399-capacity vessel, with most grabbing onto life jackets in a frantic attempt to cling to any sense of security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the highest honor to know that you did something positive that day. Maybe you saved a life, maybe you saved a thousand lives,\u201d Thornton said. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n

The Henry Hudson was halfway to Hoboken when they watched the South Tower collapse. The screaming and crying aboard the vessel suddenly gave way to an unnerving silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just were impacted by the same feeling, the same sense that the building is still filled with people. There\u2019s all those people still on the ground. All those lives just winked out in the blink of an eye,\u201d said Thornton.<\/p>\n

The Henry Hudson made 20 trips that day, evacuating countless survivors out of the apocalyptic scape \u2014 at times navigating through a smog so thick they relied on radar rather than sight.<\/p>\n

Thornton continues to serve as a NY Waterway ferry captain. Brian Zak\/NY Post<\/p>\n

Thornton even carried Secret Service agents to safety \u2014 which is how he first heard that the Pentagon was also targeted and that President George W. Bush was secure.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be until 7 p.m. that the evacuations had slowed and Thornton was pulled off the water.<\/p>\n

The crew happily obliged when told to throw out their now-toxic uniforms, but the captain ripped down the American flag that had flown on the deck throughout the heroic rescue mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a historic moment. I know how important flags are \u2014 those mean a lot. They\u2019re a part of history,\u201d said Thornton, who was in the Navy reserves at the time of the terror attack.<\/p>\n

Thornton saved the flag that waved on the Henry Hudson and donated it to the 9\/11 Memorial & Museum. David E. Starke\/ 9\/11 Memorial Museum<\/p>\n

The ash-covered flag lived in Thornton\u2019s home for the past two decades until he decided this summer that it was time to share the piece of history with the world.<\/p>\n

The flag \u2014 which waved over thousands of lives that Thornton and his crew saved that day \u2014 is now on view at the 9\/11 Memorial & Museum alongside other artifacts, like victims\u2019 shoes and charred FDNY trucks.<\/p>\n

Thornton is now celebrating his 36th year as a Waterway ferry captain, working alongside dozens of other heroes who led evacuations \u2014 and he oftentimes pilots the Henry Hudson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the highest honor to know that you did something positive that day. Maybe you saved a life, maybe you saved a thousand lives,\u201d Thornton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Captain Rick Thornton was four hours into his Waterway shift on Sept. 11 when he spotted a plume…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5301,65776,3376,57,9,197,56,63,65,64,11803,58,7037],"class_list":["post-342919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-9-11","tag-evacuations","tag-hudson-river","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-life","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-september-11","tag-us-news","tag-world-trade-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}