cause of vessel
Two Mid’town men die in S.I. Ferry accident
NTSB investigating
cause of vessel’s crash
into a concrete pier
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer
John P. Healy had cheated death once before — on Sept. 11, 2001. His law office at Kemper Insurance was in the World Trade Center, on the 34th floor of Tower One. But Healy was late for work that day. He watched the towers fall from Staten Island, near the St. George ferry terminal.
"We were lucky then," said Paul Swartwout, his brother-in-law. "He made it home. But this time, it got him."
Middletown Township residents Healy, 44, Nedshire Drive, and Frank R. Sullivan, 46, Hamiltonian Drive, were two of the 10 passengers who died Oct. 15, when the Staten Island Ferry Andrew J. Barberi slammed into a pier on the Staten Island side at high speed.
Both their wives feared the worst when they first heard the news about the crash.
Healy’s wife, Kathleen, called Swartwout immediately.
"She said, ‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ " he recalled. "It wasn’t like him. If he could get to a phone, he would have called."
A panicked Lisa Sullivan called her brother-in-law, Nicholas Cicero, who was at his brother’s gas station, to ask if he had heard from Frank.
"Frankie didn’t call her," Cicero said. "She tried to call and she couldn’t get through."
Cicero tried to downplay her fears because he didn’t want to upset her.
"I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘Maybe he missed the boat.’ "
Lisa called back a half-hour later. She still hadn’t heard from her husband.
"All of a sudden, we got nervous," Cicero said. "Panic is setting in. Something isn’t right."
Cicero and his brother Glenn decided to go to the ferry terminal on Staten Island.
He spotted James Quirk, a friend, who is also a New York City police detective.
"He escorted me down there," Cicero said. "It was just a waiting game. By then, the death count was 10."
The news he didn’t want to hear came shortly after, when Frank Sullivan was identified as one of those killed.
His last minutes were spent trying to get passengers to move to the back of the boat, a friend who was with Sullivan on the boat told Cicero.
"His buddy, the last person he was with, is taking it very hard," Cicero said. "He turned one way, Frank went another way, and the rest was history."
Both men said Healy and Sullivan would have wanted their families to carry on.
So on Sunday, between viewings for John Healy, his family held a birthday party for his 10-year-old son, Brian.
"John was a real family man," said Swartwout. "He did everything for my sister. He’s the type of guy you’d want your sister to marry. He would want us to carry on with our everyday lives. He’ll be looking down on us."
The Healys were married for 16 years. They had four children, John P. Jr., 12, Brian, Kerry, 11, and Mary, 8.
Frank and Lisa Sullivan were like newlyweds, Cicero said.
"They were always touching and holding each other," he said. "Frank and Lisa never lost it. My son Joey said, ‘Dad, that’s the way I want to be someday.’ They had a very special bond."
Sullivan was a union electrician and worked for Petrocelli Electric in Manhattan. He leaves two children, Frank Jr. and Kristina.
Frank Jr. took the news especially hard. The boy curled up on the couch and didn’t speak until the following evening, when family members convinced him to watch the Yankees game. He and his father were rabid Yankee fans.
"Anything to take his mind off the pain he was suffering," Cicero said. "He did everything with his father. It always seems the best leave early. They took one of the best."
The National Transportation Safety Board is still interviewing passengers, crew members and crew members of other ferries that have similar operations, said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway.
"That’s an ongoing process," Holloway said. "We’ll probably be on the scene the rest of this week."
The battered Barberi, which was put into service in 1981, has been moved to a dock in Brooklyn, he said.
The ferry was going full speed when it plowed into the pier, between 14 and 16 knots, Holloway said.
The NTSB also plans to interview Richard J. Smith, the ferry’s pilot, when his physical condition improves, Holloway said.
"Usually, an investigation can take a year or more to complete," he said. "We look at everything. We scrutinize all the records and go over it three times if we have to, to make sure we have all the information."
Friends of the families have established scholarship funds for the men’s children.
Donations for Healy’s children can be made to the Healy Children’s Collegebound Fund, c/o David Teeter, Legg Manson, 595 Shrewsbury Ave., Second Floor, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702.
Donations for the Sullivan children can be made to the Frank Sullivan Scholarship fund, c/o Wachovia Bank, 857 Rt. 35, Middletown, NJ 07748