BY COLLEEN LUTOLF
Staff Writer
COLLEEN LUTOLF At Woodbridge Library, ferry captain Rich Naruszewicz looks at shots he took from his ferry on Sept. 11, 2001.
Like any other American town, Woodbridge has its own share of heroes.
Some of them become heroes by dedicating their lives to a specific cause — volunteering, teaching, maybe even protesting.
Others become heroes within the space of a moment, when they make a decision to act in a crisis.
Sept. 11 saw a lot of people become heroes. Iselin resident and ferryboat Capt. Rich Naruszewicz was one of them.
Accompanied by maps and photographs he took during the 21 hours he and his crew spent shuttling people off the island of Manhattan to safe harbor on the New Jersey side in Highlands, the captain recently told his story to the Historical Association of Woodbridge Township.
A career seaman, Naruszewicz became a ferryboat captain for New York Fast Ferry, a high-speed commuter ferry company out of Highlands, in 1989.
He began every weekday with a 6:50 a.m. run to Manhattan. First, downtown to Pier 11, then to 34th Street and back to Highlands to do it all over again.
However, Sept. 11 went a little differently for everyone, including Naruszewicz.
"I began the day the way I always do, I get on the intercom, say good morning to everyone. I tell them they look and sound great," Naruszewicz, who ferries mostly commuters from Monmouth and Ocean counties, said. "It was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky."
That day, Naruszewicz was piloting "The Finest," one of two boats Fast Ferry operates out of the Sandy Hook area. Naruszewicz and his five-man crew had just finished their first run and were headed back to Highlands to refuel when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.
"We were going down the East River, just past the Statue of Liberty when the first plane hit," Naruszewicz said. "I heard over the radio what happened and I didn’t know what to do."
Naruszewicz’s first instinct was to go back to Pier 11, but he knew the ferry needed more fuel.
"We had to get more fuel if we were going to continue to do the run. I was in limbo for about 10 minutes," Naruszewicz said.
He decided to radio ahead to have a fuel truck waiting for the ferry so it could refuel as soon as it got back to port in Highlands.
When Naruszewicz docked, he saw the fuel truck there, but the driver was missing, so he refueled the ferry himself However, he had one more issue to address before he went back to Manhattan.
"I told the rest of my crew, ‘If you want to come, come, if not I’ll see you in a few days.’ I told them that I didn’t know what we would en-counter or what we’d see and that if they wanted out they should get off now. But every one of them stayed," Naruszewicz said.
The captain and his five-man crew — first mate, engineer and three deck hands — were just passing the Verrazano Bridge on their way to Pier 11 when the first tower came down.
"It was like going into Mount St. Helens," Naruszewicz said. "We couldn’t see where to go. We had to use radar for the last two miles to find the pier."
Naruszewicz said he shut off the ventilation because smoke was filtering inside the ferry from outside.
"It was almost 80 degrees but I had to shut off the ventilation because we were sucking in asbestos," Naruszewicz said. "We took towels and rags and wrapped them around our faces."
Naruszewicz said he has no words to describe what he and his crew saw when he finally got to the pier.
"There were so many people. It looked
like Giants Stadium. People were so happy to see us," he said. "A lot were panicking. Some were trying to swim away from the island."
Naruszewicz said the crew pulled a 24-year-old pregnant woman and an elderly man out of the water.
"One young guy refused to come on board. He was completely out of it. He trusted no one. We finally got him on board and he started swinging. They had to throw a net on him and tackle him."
Unless people wanted to walk up the FDR Drive or across the Brooklyn Bridge, the only way to get off the island, Naruszewicz said was by boat.
"People were climbing over the railings to get on the boat. I’m only allowed 350 passengers but I over loaded every trip because who’s counting? I said I didn’t care how many people were on board, we had to do what we had to do," he said.
Naruszewicz and his crew made a total of nine trips back and forth between Highlands and Manhattan.
He estimates that "The Finest" ferried approximately 3,000 people that infamous Tuesday.
"One couple, tourists from Finland, asked where the boat was going," he said. "I told them it doesn’t matter where the boat’s going, just get on this boat."
At one point, Naruszewicz said he and his crew were asked to do a run as a morgue.
"I asked my crew again, ‘Do you want to get off?’ I told them I would still respect them forever if they wanted to get off but I had to know. I reminded them that we may carry maimed, dead, people covered in toxic dust. Again, every one of them wanted to stay on board," Naruszewicz said.
At the last moment, emergency personnel decided to use "The Finest" as an emergency transport vehicle for the injured instead of a morgue transport.
"There weren’t any deceased on board but there were about 40 injured people. They looked mummified from the toxic dust," he said.
He transported the critically injured and the medical personnel who were tending to them to the Brooklyn Army Terminal so they could utilize hospitals in Brooklyn because the Manhattan hospitals were already filled beyond capacity.
Naruszewicz’s day continued like this until 2:30 a.m. when he pulled into the Highlands for the final time.
"We were the last boat to leave Manhattan and we were the last boat to get back to Monmouth for the night," he said.
"I went home, took a shower, had a little bit of Dewars, something to eat, and I had to go back," Naruszewicz said.
He served as transport for emergency personnel for 14 days.
"We transported dogs, medical equipment, police and firemen," he said.
Naruszewicz said the worst part of the experience was coming back to the port the last time where people were waiting for word of their loved ones.
"The worst thing was after the last run, the people waiting at the port for their family and friends to get off the boat and they didn’t get off the boat.
"The people just walked to their cars and went home. That was the saddest thing," he said.
Naruszewicz, who has a wife and a 13-year-old daughter, received the Admiral of the Ocean Sea Award and the September 11, 2001 Hero of the Harbor Award for his efforts.
Today, he works as an independent marine consultant.
If you ask him what he learned from his experience on Sept. 11, he said he tells people to appreciate what they have.
"I would say if you’re a citizen of this country, never take anything for granted, never take your freedom for granted," he said.