Three Ships That Passed the WTC Prior to 9/11/01

In the days before September 11, 2001, city dwellers and visitors in the Port of New York saw the familiar and not so familiar ocean liners and cruiseships sailing in and out of the harbor and past the Manhattan skyline. The following articles, by branch members, describe three of these ships and how they each came to symbolize something beyond the normal, due the events that were to unfold in the very near future.

NEVER AGAIN!?! Tuesday, September 4, 2001

by Phyllis K. Poda with Photos by Bob Poda.

wtcwtcWhen we arrived at New York harbor aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 early on the morning of Tuesday, September 4, 2001, we did what we usually do - went out on deck and took pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline.

Exactly one week and three hours later, an incredible and unbelievable series of events occurred which will forever alter the skyline ship passengers will view when entering New York harbor.

At Bowling Green I made my way south to the Whitehall Terminal and found the late afternoon ferries to be running but with substantial delays. Once aboard the steam ferry Cornelius G. Kolff, from the outer promenade, I could barely see the length of the boat.

Wednesday, September 5, 2001
Twin Superlatives - The World Trade Center And The SS Norway

By Theodore W. Scull

On a beautiful and unusually warm late summer afternoon, the SS Norway reversed into the North River to begin what was billed as her final Atlantic crossing. Amongst the passengers were a large group of ship aficionados and several hundred French, aboard to ferret out what remained from their once grand Ship of State, CGT's SS France.

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SS Norway sailing from New York September 5, 2001
(Photographed by Paul Kupersmith)

I stood on the starboard bridge wing to provide a commentary as the liner passed downriver. There was so much to point out on this fine day, and only half the time to do it, as I had an English-into-French translator at my side. New York's never dull skyline and ever-changing waterfront unfolded in the way no other city's can - Midtown Manhattan and the beautifully tapered Chrysler Building and the timeless, handsome Empire State Building; the USS Intrepid and its cargo of aircraft and entourage of smaller vessels; turn-of-the-last-century towers such as New York Life, Metropolitan Life and Consolidated Edison; stylish brick and banded art deco warehouses, the Chelsea recreation and other now shed-less piers, the delightful jumble that is the low-rise West Village; squarish and once innovative Pier 40 where I first worked; Battery Park City's fine tree-lined esplanade and step pyramid, true pyramid and copper topped domed towers; and the route our wedding party took in March 1991 starting out from 1756-built St. Paul's Chapel where we were married, west through the churchyard, across Church Street and the World Trade Center's plaza, into the Custom House to access the North Bridge over West Street to the American Express Building, Winter Garden and the then brand-new Hudson River Club fronting directly on the river, reserved for our reception.

But always, the glistening twin towers loomed over all else. I paused briefly in my commentary to take in my favorite view from a ship leaving or arriving New York - the five seconds or so that the elegant Woolworth Building, the tallest building in the world from 1913 to 1930 representing another era entirely, appears framed between the shiny upright twin towers that for a time held the same title, yet remained New York's tallest and arguably the best known monument. The late afternoon sun enhanced the contrast between the simplicity of the severely vertical steel towers and Woolworth's fancy gothic terra cotta decor. I wondered how many passengers I have spoken to from this and other ships' bridges have that cherished shot in their scrapbooks.

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Photographed from Queen Elizabeth 2 by Suellyn Scull
July 2000 U.S. Independence Celebration Cruise

A New York City fireboat came alongside, arranged by the Steamship Historical Society of America, to bid us a festive and bittersweet farewell with arcing plumes of water. The setting was perfect, a majestic twin-funneled liner steaming between two great achievements - the twin towers and the Statue of Liberty. Who could have ever imagined that less than six days later in mid-Atlantic, the Norway's captain would inject a lunchtime announcement that would send us immediately to the cabin to switch on CNN and witness the horrors of total collapse unfold again and again.

But it was not until I came back to New York and saw the site for myself from a friend's apartment, one who ran for his very life as the first tower collapsed a block from where he was standing, that I fully ingested what was missing. And it is a lot more than just the trade center, and includes many adjacent buildings of all sizes and eras and most of our wedding route. St. Paul's Chapel, long, long ago its wooden tower the city's tallest structure and its clocks the city's timepiece, miraculously survived unscathed though there was nothing made of bricks and mortar, only open space, between it and the now vanished WTC across Church Street. The chapel is now serving as a rest and refuge center.

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SS France Maiden arrival in New York
Postcard by P. Bortaluzzi

As a footnote, the France arrived in New York harbor in 1962, to become the world's longest liner, the same year that the Port of New York Authority hired Minoru Yamasaki as design architect for the World Trade Centers that would rise up as the world's tallest buildings.

Monday, September 10, 2001 - THE LAST SHIP

by John McFarlane

The British flag P&O cruiseliner ROYAL PRINCESS paid a rare visit to the Port of New York on Monday, September 10, 2001. Usually after the regular weekend cruise ships have cleared the harbor a quiet time descends upon the port. But this Monday was different, ROYAL PRINCESS docked at the New York City Passenger Ship Terminal on a cruise that included New York as one of several ports of call along the U.S. east coast.

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Royal Princess docked at the New York City Passenger Ship Terminal
(Photographed by Howard Paulman)

ROYAL PRINCESS is usually encountered cruising in European waters since she entered service, having been named by HRH Princess Diana, the late Princess of Wales in November 1984. When this ship sailed by the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on that Monday night she became the last ship to pass the familiar site that a mere twelve hours later would become a scene of horror and unbelievable tragedy.