A day after terrorist attacks rocked the country, a Wilmington-based ship received its orders to protect the nation's waterways.
According to a story in the Sept. 13, 2001, Wilmington Morning Star, the Coast Guard cutter Diligence set out from downtown Wilmington to patrol the coast. Before Sept. 11, plans were to set sail along the Caribbean. The new mission began by working the North and South Carolina coast.
By October, the orders were to head north to New York Harbor, where the 77-man crew was expected to patrol for more than a month. Bodies were still being recovered at the toppled World Trade Center.
"When you come here and you see the dust roll out from under the wreckage, it sort of brings it on home and makes it real," Lt. James Thompson
told reporter Trista Talton, standing on a lower deck of the 210-foot cutter. "It's strange looking without the towers there."
At the time it was the largest Coast Guard vessel in the harbor. Along with about 10 smaller Coast Guard vessels, it was sweeping the harbor and looking for anything out of the ordinary. The cutter was called to a New York taxi with reports a bomb might be on board. As it went to respond, the threat turned out to be a hoax.
Crew believed the ship's presence alone could deter further attacks.
"It kind of makes you open your eyes," Chief Petty Allen Bliven said. "It's just unreal. I think, overall, we take stuff for granted. We've lost some freedom."
The Diligence left Wilmington for good in 2020 and is now based in Pensacola, Florida.
Owen Hassell is the local news editor for the StarNews. You can reach him at ohassell@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: From the archives: Wilmington-based boat takes on 9/11 mission
