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T.J. Stiles @tj-stiles.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

No else cared (nor should they have), but I was then writing my biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Staten Island-born boatman who rose to build a transportation empire (and started the now-municipal ferry). For me, the crash was an enlightening experience, as I was writing about ferry disasters.

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T.J. Stiles @tj-stiles.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I experienced the uncertainty about what exactly was happening, the air of panic, the need to understand the danger (were we listing? sinking? where to go to be safe?), and then the boredom as we waited for some resolution. But I can only say this because I was no victim, never in harm's way.

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T.J. Stiles @tj-stiles.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

I had taken the Staten Island ferry many times before the 2003 crash as I conducted research, but October 15, 2003, was the last time (so far) that I ever took it. Here is to the memory of the victims who lost their lives in one of New York's worst transit disasters, & to the wounded who suffered.

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