"...the universe was training us for a greater duty."

The following is taken from two emails written by Tomas Cavallaro, (Class of 1966).

Prologue
The story of the World Trade Center does not start here -- nor end here. It is not the only story -- just mine as I had the privilege to witness. I say "privilege" because God graced me with the opportunity to effectively help.
____My story starts five months ago. I was working on my web-based business. Alone, frustrated, and surrounded by computers for three years, I felt imprisoned. I stood from my desk, held my hands out and said aloud to the universe, "Is this what you have planned for me? I have not sung your glory in years, you must have something better for me then this." Within the hour I found the retired Fireboat, John J. Harvey on Pier 63.
For months I played on her decks, worked in her engine room, painted and found a place for her tools and supplies. We went out on daily trips, where I worked with her crew, practiced line-handling and learned how to get passengers on and off safely and quickly. On a six-day trip to Albany I was the cook and we had the opportunity to live together and make her our home -- like a space ship.
____Without knowing it, the universe was training us for a greater duty.
9/11
____Tuesday morning on September 11th started as many do, with coffee, my computer and radio going. The radio announced the first plane had hit the Trade tower and blood donors were requested. As I started to leave the house the radio now requested firemen -- retired and otherwise -- report for duty. Tuesday morning did not end till some 80 hours later.
____Leaving my apartment, I was first struck with the total silence from the activity in the streets. People were lost, internally, and walked automatically and expressionless. It was my first introduction to Tuesday morning.
____When I approached Pier 63, I heard the Fireboat's three blasts on her air horn -- she was leaving the Pier for the WTC -- without me. But my Brooklyn whistle and waving to the crew drew their attention and I saw her engines kick into reverse. She came back for me. I told myself that I'd not leave her -- till she took me home. Some 80 hours later, she did.
____First, I'm neither a fireman nor a boatman, but an artist. And over the last four months the Fireboat Jon J. Harvey, her crew, owners and passengers had playfully practiced the movements with me. As deck hand, my duties were line-handling and passenger and safety. I reported to Captain Huntley Gill and asked my duties: "We may be rescuing people from the sea wall. If you see anyone in the water, toss then a life jacket".
____All life jackets on deck, Andrew Furber, my fellow crewmen said, "We may have wounded -- clear off the back table". I found all available first aid and reported it to the wheelhouse. We now started docking procedures on the WTC sea wall.
____People in suits -- now uniformly chalky-white from the dust -- were scrabbling over the rail onto her decks. Some were in shock and out of shape, making the simple task of jumping over a fence a dangerous procedure. That done, we set off for Pier 40. I reported to the Captain that "all were aboard and that three were medically trained". "No one stays, we're to pump." We left our passengers and set again to the WTC.
____We secured her docking and our engineer, Tim Ivory, handed me a sledge hammer. "Hammer away at the water vales. They're frozen with rust. Open them or close them completely -- no in-betweens or they're useless. And cap the ones that won't close, mark the ones that are open".
____Andrew and I found ourselves completing the task as others arrived. I don't know who they were; some I knew, others I did not, and we all put ourselves to the task getting the 70-year-old vales to move and connected to hoses.
____Firemen were now hooking additional hoses and taking them into the gray-white dust. They walked a few yards into what looked like a Russian winter -- or Lunar landscape -- a snow storm of paper and white dust, taking just a few steps, hoses on their backs and dissolving into the blizzard.
____Tim wrote numbers on the bulkhead, assigning them to the hoses and valves that controlled the flow of water to the WTC. He would get orders to shut one down or add pressure to another. This completed out third task and was our duty for all of Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday.
____Our assistant engineer, Jessica Du Long, and Captain Bob Lenny arrived by boat. Captain Lenny was Captain of the Harvey when it was active, and Jessica has taken on the duty of learning the engine that can only be described as love.
____Now that they had arrived we were complete as a crew. Two captains, an engineer and an assistant, two deck hands, myself filling in as cook and scrounger, and Andrew, who knew how to weld, set out. "I've got to cut something," he said, and set off for 10 hours. When he returned I did not recognize him. What day it was, I don't know -- days and night were not within my perception. It was all a hellish Tuesday.
____My duty now shifted. My line duties and engineering assistance were not required. I set myself on being there for my Captain and Crew and fed them, from an open grill with firewood. It was a surreal scene: me barbecuing in the middle of it all.
____Boxes were off-loaded. Water, clothing and medical supplies and personnel were setting up a conga line -- hundreds of people long. Boxes going hand to hand in quick time. Soon the packages changed to buckets -- being filled and emptied -- endlessly.
____Soon food was arriving. My duties changed from cook to scrounger -- I would walk the perimeter and center of the WTC, catalogue what I saw, and where I saw it, and if it could be put to some use for the crew. I'd go back to the boat and take orders: requests for fuses, flashlights, boot laces, rain gear, tape, rope, tarps, knives, ladders, plywood, soap, towels, shirts and hand cream, gloves, body suits, boots, masks and goggles -- what more, I forget. I helped those whom I could, made a joke or two to ease my heart, slept to ease my body, cried to comfort my soul. There were other emergencies, a building reported unsafe rumbled once. We looked to Captain Lenny for orders -- he stood firmly and gave us the confidence to do the same. Andrew and I never talked about what we saw or did on our ventures into the center.
____This ends my four days on the moon, which was once the World Trade Center. I took photos to take back to earth, they now are mounted to her bulkhead for anyone to see.
____The Fireboat John J Harvey was released from her duties sometime late Friday afternoon. We prepared ourselves and her to return home. We arrived at Pier 63 some time about 9 -10 o'clock, Friday -- about 80 hours to the sound of bells in the quite of the night.

Epilogue
For Fleet Week, Tomas had the privilege of being on the John J. Harvey as deck chief. They saw over 30 vessels in safely into NYC and did a water display for over five hours. He also had a chance to appear on television coverage of the event. Tomas recently wrote "I'm going to live quietly on beach in the South of France, in a 300 year old village, and paint. I'm broke -- 9/11 took out my website and I owed money to investors. I'm selling off all my iMacs to pay the rent. I gave up cable TV also, years ago. But at the same time, I live like a millionaire -- the life of a Artist is a good one. We know how to find value out of nothing.

To learn more about the John J. Harvey:
Link to the congressional record
http://www.fireboat.org/congress.pdf
Link to more info about Tomas Cavallaro and the fireboat
http://www.fireboat.org/911.asp
Link to awards and articles about 9/11 and the boat that day
http://www.fireboat.org/awards.asp

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