Within minutes of the collision the veteran FDNY fireboat "Fire Fighter" arrived to what the firefighters aboard would later describe as a sea of flames that extended 3,000 yards in front of them. Thinking there had been an explosion on the "Esso Brussels", the fireboat began to pour water onto the ship from its starboard bow, keeping their ship upwind and upcurrent from the smoke and flames now heading towards the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. As the two ships passed beneath the bridge, the pool of burning oil surrounding the ships sent flames high enough to scorch the bottom of the bridge above the water's surface. Fortunately, the anchor chains on the "Esso Brussels" parted at this point and both ships passed under the bridge quickly, preventing the steel from suffering heat damage. Propelled by the "Sea Witch"s still-running engines and the outbound tide, the ships proceeded into outer New York Harbor and ran aground in Gravesend Bay, burning furiously. After both ships grounded, "Fire Fighter" moved into position and fought the oil fire from the port side of "Esso Brussels". To their horror, as they extinguished the fire they saw the bow of "Sea Witch" was embedded in the starboard side and realized that two vessels were involved in the inferno. Moving quickly along the port side of the container ship they began to pour water on the blazing container stack of the "Sea Witch" and moved toward its stern, hoping to find some evidence of the ship's crew, 30 of whom were rescued from the stern of the ship. At dawn on June 2nd, 1973, the fires from the oil cargo on board the "Esso Brussels" were mostly under control, aided by her sound construction which prevented the oil in her undamaged tanks from leaking out or catching fire. Sea Witch was in much worse condition, as almost all the on-deck containers were still burning. The US Coast Guard and FDNY agreed to have tugs separate the vessels to avoid the risk of the rest of the oil aboard the "Esso Brussels" catching fire. Once separated, the four FDNY fireboats easily extinguished what little oil continued to burn and the hulk of the Esso Brussels was towed to the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne to have the balance of her oil cargo removed onto barges for delivery. By this time, tugs and small craft managed to rescue the "Esso Brussels" survivors from the water, but 13 of her crew were lost and never seen again.