SS Andrea Doria

[John in Covina]

With the cruise ship running aground in Italy and the captain making such a poor show of it. "No really, I fell off the boat into a life raft!"

I was reminded of some reports on the SS Andrea Doria 1956 which collided with another ocean liner. The rumours were that the passengers came to the promenade deck and found that most of the crew was already in the lifeboats

 

[kyboots]

My Aunt was on that ship, and they were not very complimentary of the staff. However in 1956 they went on to Naples and were just thankful. Was the other ship the Stockholm? --John

 

[Shangas]

Yes.

The Stockholm and the Andrea Doria crashed in fog off of the East Coast of the U.S. in 1956.

Laws of the sea dictated that when two ships were heading towards each other, both were obliged to turn starboard (right) so as to open up a gap between them. If I remember the case correctly, the Doria turned starboard and the Stockholm turned port (closing the gap), and the Stockholm struck the Doria on the port side, smashing a hole in the side of the ship, causing it to sink.

The Doria sunk a lot like the Costa Concordia. It listed as it sank, so that rendered half the lifeboats useless. But because it sank so slowly (it took like a day and a half or something), other ships were able to respond in time and rescue most of the people on board. The only deaths were attributed to the collision, not to the sinking.

One of the rescuing ships was the Ile de France.

 

[dhermann1]

Geez, I remember that like it was yesterday. The Stockholm limped into port with a big gash in her bow. At least today when there is a maritime diasaster the death tolls range in the ten or 20 or 50 (like the Andrea Doria), not in the thousands.
The last really bad sea disaster I recall was the ferry boat in the Red Sea. The disaster was also the result of horrendous stupidity on the part of the captain. There were something like 600 killed in that one, so I guess my previous comment doesn't totally hold water. (Unfortunate phraseology there . . . )

 

[John in Covina]

Ferry boats have been part of several really bad sinkings. I think the design of many with the fairly open low deck for cars makes them take on water too easy in really bad weather.

 

[LocktownDog]

Ferry boats have been part of several really bad sinkings. I think the design of many with the fairly open low deck for cars makes them take on water too easy in really bad weather.

Agreed. After all these years, you'd think engineers would design something more stable and safe.

 

[Story]

I was reminded of some reports on the SS Andrea Doria 1956 ...

... which always reminds me of George Constanza.

Poor George.

 

[Mojito]

Not quite true that the only deaths in the Andrea Doria sinking were attributable to injuries sustained in the collision itself...poor little four-year-old Norma Di Sandro was dropped by accident into a lifeboat and suffered bad head injuries - she lingered in a coma, never waking, and died in hospital. Another passenger, after strenuously assisting during the evacuation, died on a rescue vessel of a heart attack.

I have a friend who has done a lot of research on the Andrea Doria, including interviews with many survivors and an examination of contemporary accounts. He, and others, have raised the grim possibility that the occupants of A-230 might still have been alive, and trapped, when the ship sank.

The Stockholm is still sailing today, as the Athena. I remember her visiting Sydney a couple of years ago - odd to look out on her at Darling Harbour and imagine her history.