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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Recovers: Story of Tugboat Captain Who Was at Helm When Jets Smashed into World Trade Center

Aired October 16, 2001 - 07:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We are still getting stories about acts of heroism and compassion following the attacks on the Twin Towers, and one deals with a tugboat captain who was at the helm of his boat when those two jets smashed in the buildings.

Susan Lisovicz has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Danny Sullivan, a New York tugboat captain for more than two decades, has always looked to the city's bright skyline, rather than the far-off stars, to chart his course.

But on September 11, the city's most identifiable beacon was destroyed.

DANNY SULLIVAN, TUGBOAT CAPTAIN: The Twin Towers to a mariner are landmarks, you know. You use them all of the time, you know. You use them for weather, for visibility. There are some mornings when you only can see half of them. They are part of your everyday job, and you take them for granted.

LISOVICZ: From portside, Sullivan watched planes slam into the World Trade Center. At top speed, Danny turned his craft around and headed toward the disaster.

SULLIVAN: My first thought was to go there. And my second thought was: What do you do with all of these people?

LISOVICZ: Without asking anyone, including his own employer, Sullivan sped to Manhattan's shoreline, and police waved him in, desperate to get people off the island and out of danger.

SULLIVAN: And the police, they had corralled a lot of people down to the wall already. They were literally picking them up and carrying them on the tugs. Dogs -- we were rescuing dogs. The most unique sight I saw was a white poodle running around in the green grass, the dust blowing off of him like he was a ghost.

LISOVICZ: Sullivan and the harbor's tug captains ferried thousands of people to safety that day. Over a month later, Danny still remembers one little boy named Miles. SULLIVAN: And I went back in the stern of the tugboat, and there was Miles sitting there with his mother. And I just looked at him like all these people are like -- and there's Miles, looking around like -- poor Miles, you know. He doesn't even know what's going on. So I took him up in the pilot house (ph), and I let him steer the tugboat.

LISOVICZ: And now Sullivan chugs on, searching for a new beacon in a skyline changed forever.

Susan Lisovicz, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: It's so difficult to look at that picture.

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