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New York City Ferries Move En Masse in 9/11 Commemoration Tradition

New York City ferries carried out their traditional 9/11 remembrance on Wednesday, September 11, honoring those who died in the attacks 18 years ago by gathering in the water off the World Financial Center and sounding their horns.

This footage shows the ferries moving after their horns were sounded.

“Never seen so many of them,” wrote Twitter user @Moe_NYC, who posted the video. “They were first standing in the water blowing their horns for about a minute, then they all took off!”

According to the New York Waterway website, every 9/11 anniversary, “at 8.46 am [New York’s ferries] will throttle back all vessels in operation and pause for a moment of silence as this is when the first plane hit the towers. At 9.03 am [the ferries] will throttle back again as this is when the second plane hit the towers. At 10.28 am, it has become a tradition that all vessels not en route gather off the World Financial Center bank where the towers once stood pointing toward Manhattan and sound their horns for one minute.”

On September 11, 2001, NY Waterway ferry crews evacuated more than 150,000 people from Manhattan, according to the ferry service’s website. The ferries were part of the largest sea evacuation in recorded history, with over 500,000 people being removed from Manhattan in nine hours by hundreds of boats. Credit: Moe_NYC via Storyful