A film production has transformed a North Carolina river into a historical recreation of the September 11 maritime rescue — the largest sea evacuation in history
Filming History on a Southern River
A film production based on the September 11, 2001 maritime rescue operation has been using the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, North Carolina as a stand-in for the waters around Lower Manhattan, according to WWAY TV3, a local television station. The production is recreating what historians have documented as the largest sea evacuation in recorded history: the spontaneous, coordinated rescue by boat captains of hundreds of thousands of people trapped on Manhattan after the terrorist attacks.
The Story Being Told
In the hours immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Lower Manhattan filled with people trying to flee the island, many of whom were cut off from the bridge and tunnel routes. An unofficial armada of ferries, tugboats, dinner boats, charter vessels and private craft converged on the southern tip of Manhattan in what became known as the Boatlift — a rescue operation that moved approximately 500,000 people to safety in New Jersey, Staten Island and elsewhere in roughly nine hours.
The Historical Significance
The Boatlift is one of the less-told chapters of September 11. It demonstrates the capacity for spontaneous civic organization in the face of catastrophe and the central role that New York Harbor’s maritime community played in the response. The 9/11 Memorial and Museum has documented the Boatlift extensively, and a 2011 short documentary by Eddie Rosenstein brought the story to wider attention. A feature film treatment could bring it to a significantly larger audience.
North Carolina as New York
The use of the Cape Fear River as a filming location for Lower Manhattan waters is a practical production decision: the river offers sufficient width, depth and visual similarity to aspects of New York Harbor to make the substitution feasible with the assistance of digital effects. North Carolina has become a significant film production hub over the past two decades, attracting productions with its lower costs, experienced crew base and natural landscape variety.
