2001

AMO Member Rick Araiza Assists In New York's Emergency Response

Around 9 a.m. Sept. 11, American Maritime Officers member Rick Araiza was trying to round up the mariners attending the bridge resource management course he was teaching as an instructor for the Raymond T. McKay Simulation, Training, Assessment & Research Center and get them back into the classroom.

Araiza and his students, Army Corps of Engineers mariners enrolled in an exportable training course at Liberty Point in Jersey City, New Jersey, weren't gathered around a television. They had stepped outside to look across the Hudson River at the damage to the north tower of the World Trade Center, which they were told was hit by a plane a few minutes earlier.

The second plane, United Airlines flight 175, flew right over their heads and into the south tower of the World Trade Center.

"I'm assuming that everybody had the same sinking feeling that I had--your stomach just kind of went sour and you realized that the first one was not an accident," Araiza said. "As has been repeated over and over again, thoughts of Pearl Harbor were immediately brought to mind. We saw it go into the south tower and started looking around for other planes.

"The range of emotions was just extreme and not anything that I'd seen in a civilian capacity," he said. "We were just kind of dealing with our own emotions when the south tower collapsed. At that point, there were no questions, no meeting, no hesitation. We divided ourselves up, we got on the boats and went over there and offered to help evacuate."

Two Army boats and an Environmental Protection Agency vessel were docked at the facility. The mv Gelberman, an 85-foot debris collection vessel capable of tug and lightering services, was the first Army Corps vessels put in service from Point Liberty that day. One of the other captains present had started the engine and warmed-up the vessel after the second plane hit, Araiza said.

The mv Hayward, a 124-foot debris collection vessel, was also activated after the steering gear was reassembled. Araiza went aboard the Hayward, which arrived in lower Manhattan approximately 15 minutes after the Gelberman.

"Our plan was to take the wounded out, get the children and women, and then anybody else," he said. "There were other captains in the class and we volunteered as deckhands. We jumped in the boats and were willing to do whatever it was. I had the most medical training so I was assigned to be the medical person-in-charge."

The Hayward arrived at Manhattan at about 11:45 a.m. and, after transporting one load of passengers, was diverted to assist in the firefighting effort by refueling one of the fireboats pumping pressurized water from the river into fire hoses laid out to the World Trade Center.

"When we got there, the normal ferry service for that area was shuttling people and I was taking a mental count," he said. "There weren't that many. On our boat, which was the larger of the two, we carried 200 people the first go around. Our instructions were to take them to Ellis Island."

Araiza was surprised by how few people were seeking evacuation from lower Manhattan on the waterfront. By 6 p.m. that night, he estimated that not more than 10,000 people were evacuated by water aboard government and privately owned vessels. The Army Corps estimated that 2,300 people were evacuated aboard the six vessels it put into service throughout the day.

"The Gelberman was there at 11:30 a.m. and they carried no severely wounded people and we had no severely wounded people," he said. "And there were no wounded to be seen along the south side of lower Manhattan. We got over with our first load to Ellis Island and they had paramedics set up and they were marshalling people to get their names and statistics. But the dreadful thought was: so many people in that area, yet there are so few to be seen looking for help or looking for a way out.

"The people we picked up were covered in beige colored dust. A few had their clothes torn and nicks and cuts but not any signs that they had taken a hit and escaped. It looked as though the ones that got hit just never made it out."

At press time, the estimate of the number of missing in New York was 4,815. The number of confirmed dead was 579, including those who died aboard both of the planes that crashed into the towers. The death toll in Pennsylvania was 44. At the Pentagon, 189 people were reported killed, including the 64 people who died on American Airlines Flight 77.

Brendan McCabe, the brother-in-law of AMO member Kerry Grubb, was killed in the attacks. McCabe, the brother of Margaret Grubb, worked for Fiduciary Trust at 2 World Trade Center.

Richard Lynch, the son-in-law of AMO member and former AMO Plans Administrator Tom Mackell, Jr., was killed in the attacks. Lynch, the husband of Christina Mackell Lynch, worked as a bond trader on the 84th floor of 2 World Trade Center.

John J. Corcoran, a member of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association, was killed aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which was flown into the south tower of the World Trade Center. Corcoran was flying from Boston to join his ship.

At press time, American Maritime Officers members were on alert stand-by status for activation of Ready Reserve Force (RRF) vessels. Members working for Military Sealift Command (MSC) in the Afloat Prepositioning Force were already working to support the counter attack from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The officers aboard several MSC large medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships--including the USNS Red Cloud, USNS Dahl, USNS Charlton and USNS Watkins--have been commended for the service they have provided so far in operation Enduring Freedom. Many AMO members have called union dispatchers, some to inquire about crewing RRF ships and some to volunteer to come out of retirement if they are needed.

That sentiment, the desire to do something, anything, to help was very strong Sept. 11, Araiza said. "Everybody was leaving this place and we were heading toward it. It's what you would expect from a mariner."

Araiza, 46, has been teaching on an adjunct basis at the RTM STAR Center for the past three years. He began sailing with AMO in 1980. His first ship as Third Officer was the China Sea, which at the time was refueling the fleet of ships stationed off of Iran during the hostage crisis. During Operation Desert Storm, he worked as the captain of the mv Senator, shipping supplies from the U.S. East Coast to Saudi Arabia.

On Sept. 11, he was in Jersey City, across the river from lower Manhattan, teaching an exportable training class. He began the class at 8:40 a.m. and shortly thereafter someone at the facility announced that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

"Rumors were that it was a two-seater, small, maybe a single-engine plane, and the assumption or feeling was that it was an accident," he said. "We stopped the class and went outside to have a look.

"You could see the broken glass on the north tower of the World Trade Center and the smoke coming out," he said. "From the south view we had, it looked like it might have been a small plane. We watched it for a while and then I was trying to get my class to come back in. We were on our way back into the classroom when that second plane flew very close to us."

After evacuating their first load of passengers to Ellis Island, the crew of the Hayward was sent to help with the firefighting effort.

"We were the only boat that was fully fueled," Araiza said. "After the collapse, there was no water pressure. The mains were down, so they had to bring in fireboats. They actually broke out a museum piece, the John Harvey, which is a 70-year-old relic. They brought that in and tied it up at the waterfront and we were giving them fuel. That's where what was left of any fire team was getting water."

The 130-foot John J. Harvey was built in 1930 to augment the New York City Fire Department's fleet, which then consisted of 10 steam-powered boats. The Harvey was the first vessel in the fleet with internal combustion engines and capable of pumping water at 20,000 gallons per minute. It served until 1995 and was decommissioned. It was saved from being scrapped in 1999 by history enthusiasts, who have turned the Harvey into a museum, offering water spouts on special occasions and harbor tours.

After the attacks Sept. 11, the volunteer crew of the Harvey worked 80 hours at the sea wall just south of North Cove Marina, North River, pumping water to the firefighters working at the site of the World Trade Center with two other fireboats.

The Hayward reached the Harvey at about 1:30 p.m. and fueled the fireboat for about one hour and cast off at 3 p.m. The crew kept the Hayward underway in the area to provide any assistance they could.

"We worked until 6 p.m. and they called us back to the base," Araiza said. "They had their normal crew show up and they took us off the boats and we all assumed that we were going to be deployed immediately to do something. The people who were in the class from Philadelphia wanted to go back to the boats to get them ready. I wanted to get on a ship and be part of the sealift.

"They kicked us off the base because they were going to use it as a command center for the cleanup operation," he said. "They sent me back to Newark and by that time they were saying they had enough volunteers.

"I was fortunate to get one of the last cars at Alamo in Newark. I drove down and stopped in Maryland and I called Gil to see if any ships were being activated."

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