Book excerpt: The Lives They Saved is the story in artifacts and oral histories of the 300,000 New Yorkers who were evacuated from Manhattan on 9/11…by boat. It is a story that has not yet been written about or told. It includes hundreds of oral histories and many photographs of this high drama, set against the terrifying backdrop of the day when the Earth stood still, every airport in the U.S. was closed down, and Manhattan was seized by gridlock. , For perspective, the boatlift that saved Britain’s expeditionary force from the beaches of Dunkirk removed approximately the same number of people: 300,000. ,