Captain Rick Thornton was four hours into his Waterway shift on Sept. 11 when he spotted a plume of white smoke trailing from the World Trade Center.

The terrifying news then came over the Henry Hudson ferry’s radio waves that a plane had struck the North Tower. Thornton and his crew assumed it was an accident — until they witnessed a massive fireball just 16 minutes later.

“We knew this was some kind of crazy coordinated attack,” Thornton, 60, recalled of the horrifying sight from his captain’s pilothouse as his boat floated between New Jersey and Midtown.

“I just immediately told my crew, ‘We’re going down there. We’re gonna start evacuating…

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