Brittany Catanzaro | |
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![]() Catanzaro in 2009 | |
Born | 1989 (age 34–35) |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | sailor |
Known for | commanded a vessel that rescued two dozen people |
Brittany Catanzaro is an American sailor. [1] She was the youngest individual appointed captain of a New York Waterways ferry, and the first woman appointed captain. [2] Catanzaro captained the ferry Governor Thomas H. Kean, one of the vessels that responded to the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549, on the Hudson River. [3] Catanzaro and her crew are credited with rescuing two dozen survivors. [4]
Following the rescue the United States Coast Guard honored Coast Guard personnel who had distinguished themselves. [5] Catanzaro is a member of the Coast Guard Reserve, and received a Meritorious Public Service Award.
Catanzaro's cool and efficient response to the emergency landing has been offered as an example of the value of training for emergencies. [6] [7] New York Waterways crews practice man overboard drills every two weeks, and Catanzaro said they were all so familiar with the process that she did not have to issue any orders, as her subordinates all already knew what to do. [8] Keeping pace with survivors drifting with the Hudson's relatively fast currents is a task that requires skill and practice. Catanzaro had specifically practiced to master this skill during their drills by throwing life-rings into the water and practicing keeping pace with them.
The New York Times profiled Catanzaro on December 4, 2008, when she was New York Waterways youngest ever captain, and its first female ferry captain. [9] Catanzaro described virtually growing up on her family's boat, which was moored near the New York Waterways terminal. [10] She described knowing she wanted to work on water, from an early age. She enlisted in the Coast Guard on September 11, 2007, where she worked as a machinery technician. When asked whether the older captains had given her "guff", she replied that, on the contrary, she didn't have to earn their trust, as they had seen her grow up on the river, and several of them had played a role in her training and qualification.
Gerald Weissmann, editor in chief of The FASEB Journal , pointed to Catanzaro's coolness and competence as proof of the value of making sure competent women could hold any job. [11] He quoted Margaret Fuller, an early feminist, who had called for women being allowed to command ships, in 1845. Fuller perished in the wreck of Elizabeth, a vessel under incompetent male command. Weissmann wrote, "If only the Elizabeth had been tended to by a sea captain as professional as Brittany Catanzaro!"
NY Waterway, or New York Waterway, is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New Jersey Transit, New York City Department of Transportation, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide service and maintain docking facilities.
The Perfect Storm is a 2000 American disaster drama film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and based on the 1997 creative non-fiction book of the same name by Sebastian Junger. The film was adapted by William D. Wittliff, with an uncredited rewrite by Bo Goldman, and tells the story of the Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea with all hands after being caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991. The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, William Fichtner, Karen Allen, Bob Gunton, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and John C. Reilly.
The MV George Prince ferry disaster was a nautical disaster that occurred in the Mississippi River in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the morning of October 20, 1976. The Luling–Destrehan Ferry George Prince was struck by the Norwegian tanker SS Frosta, which was traveling upriver. The collision occurred at mile post 120.8 above Head of Passes, less than three-quarters of a mile from the construction site of the Luling Bridge which would replace the ferry seven years later. The ferry was crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana on the East Bank to Luling, Louisiana on the West Bank. Ninety-six passengers and crew were aboard the ferry when it was struck, and seventy-eight perished. This accident is the deadliest ferry disaster in United States history. It is also the deadliest peacetime nautical disaster involving a non-submersible vessel in U.S. waters since the explosion of the SS Grandcamp in 1947, which killed 581 people. In addition, it is the deadliest accident involving a single vessel in U.S waters since a fire on board the SS Morro Castle in 1934, which killed 137 people.
USCGC Seneca, or before 1915 USRC Seneca, was a United States Coast Guard cutter built and commissioned as a "derelict destroyer" with the specific mission of locating and then destroying abandoned shipwrecks that were still afloat and were a menace to navigation. She was designed with excellent sea-keeping qualities, a long cruising range, good towing capabilities, and by necessity the capacity to store a large amount of munitions. She was one of five Coast Guard cutters serving with the U.S. Navy in European waters during World War I.
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USS James (SP-429) — also known as USS W. T. James (SP-429) — was a steam trawler acquired by the United States Navy during World War I. She was converted into an armed minesweeper and assigned to the European Theater, where she performed varied tasks, including minesweeping, patrolling, and escorting of larger ships in convoy. In 1919, while returning to the United States, she was severely damaged in a storm off the French coast, and sank. Her crew were rescued.
US Airways Flight 1549 was a regularly scheduled US Airways flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte and Seattle, in the United States. On January 15, 2009, the Airbus A320 serving the flight struck a flock of birds shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia, losing all engine power. Given their position in relation to the available airports and their low altitude, pilots Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles decided to glide the plane to ditching on the Hudson River near Midtown Manhattan. All 155 people on board were rescued by nearby boats. There were no fatalities, although 100 people were injured, some seriously. The time from the bird strike to the ditching was less than four minutes.
Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III is an American retired fighter pilot, diplomat, and airline pilot. He is best known for his actions as captain of US Airways Flight 1549 in 2009, when he ditched the plane, landing on the Hudson River after both engines were disabled by a bird strike. All 155 people aboard survived. After the Hudson landing, Sullenberger became an outspoken advocate for aviation safety and helped develop new protocols for flight safety. He served as the co-chairman, along with his co-pilot on Flight 1549, Jeffrey Skiles, of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)'s Young Eagles youth introduction-to-aviation program from 2009 to 2013.
Bounty was an enlarged reconstruction of the original 1787 Royal Navy sailing ship HMS Bounty, built in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, in 1960. She sank off the coast of North Carolina during Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012.
Antelope was a medium clipper built in 1851 in Medford, near Boston, Massachusetts. She sailed in the San Francisco, China, and Far East trades, and was known for her fine finish work and for her crew's escape from pirates. She is often called Antelope of Boston to distinguish her from the extreme clipper Antelope of New York launched in 1852.
USCGC Adak (WPB-1333) was a United States Coast Guard cutter that received her name from Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Built at Bollinger Shipyard in Lockport, Louisiana, Adak was placed in commission on 18 August 1989 in New Jersey and decommissioned on 30 June 2021 in Manama, Bahrain after almost 32 years of service.
USCGC Anacapa (WPB-1335) is an Island-class cutter of the United States Coast Guard. She is based at Petersburg, Alaska and is responsible for law enforcement, search and rescue, and maritime defense.
The Father Mychal Judge is a NY Waterway ferry named in honor of Mychal Judge, a New York City priest who was a victim of al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001.
Regal Princess is a Royal-class cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc, and is the second ship to sail for the cruise line under this name. Regal Princess, as well as her sister ship Royal Princess, were ordered on 17 February 2010 from Fincantieri and were constructed at the Fincantieri shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy, and debuted in 2014.
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Governor Thomas H. Kean is a ferry operated by NY Waterway, a private transportation company that provides ferry and bus service in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
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At just 20 years old, Petty Officer Catanzaro has already attained her 100-ton license and is a New York Ferry Captain. She was serving in this capacity on the afternoon of the FLT 1549 crash and was one of the first vessels on scene, ultimately rescuing 26 people.
Captain Manny Liba and his crew on the Moira Smith rescued 14 people. Captain Brittany Catanzaro on the Gov. Thomas Kean and her crew saved 24 people.
The rescue also reminds us of the importance of training and exercising before the fact. First responders at all levels must know what to do when it comes time to execute a mission – because seconds count. The successful rescue of Flight #1549 is a case in point.
The ferry's 19-year-old [sic] Captain Brittany Catanzaro recalled, "You train so much, you don't have to think about it. I didn't have to give any orders to the crew." They simply made sense of what was happening and knew what to do.
Brittany Catanzaro, captain of a commuter ferry was shocked to see a US Airways jet bobbing on the tide but she knew what had to be done as they are trained twice a month for man-overboard situations.
'I pulled out of Pier 79, I looked for any kind of southbound traffic, and I saw the plane there,' Captain Catanzaro said. 'It was hard to stay next to it, but you practice that by throwing life rings in the water and trying to stay alongside them.'
Any guff from fellow captains? A lot of the older guys trained me. They've known me since I was little, because I've been around.
My dad docked our family boat next to where the old NY Waterway terminal used to be. I grew up around the crew. I was offered an opportunity at NY Waterway when I was training with the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve [as a Machinery Technician 3rd Class]. I started as a deckhand and worked my way to captain.
If only the Elizabeth had been tended to by a sea captain as professional as Brittany Catanzaro!