Through the thick curtain of night and fog, the lights of the Swedish passenger liner, the Stockholm, began to grow visible. It was minutes before 11:10 p.m. on July 25, 1956, that an officer of the Italian ocean liner, Andrea Doria, cried out in horror, “she’s coming right at us!” . Though attempts were made on both ships to stop the collision, it was to no avail. Forty-six passengers from the Andrea Doria lost their lives, as did five from the Stockholm. The aftershock of the incident caused fear and hesitation. No one knew what caused the two ships to collide—nor did anyone know if it was a fatal accident that could easily happen again. Questions began to arise and fingers were pointed, but no one could confirm whose fault it was.
The Andrea Doria was considered to be one of the most luxurious and safest vessels of its time. With the latest radarscopes and watertight compartments, she was thought to be the new ‘unsinkable’ ship. Often referred to as the “Grand Dame of the Sea”, the Andrea Doria left Genoa, Italy on July 17, 1956 with 1,706 people aboard—1,134 passengers and 572 crewmen. As the Andrea Doria had taken 100 transatlantic trips since 1953, this journey was set to be her 101st and was expected to go as normal. At the helm was Captain Piero Calamai, a “venerable Italian mariner and veteran of both World War I and World War II”. The 524-foot Stockholm, on the other hand, was equipped with an icebreaker bow to cut through the current and create a smooth ride for its passengers. Having left New York earlier that day, under the watch of Third Officer Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen, the Stockholm traveled at full speed.
The events that followed are unsure and even to this day no one really knows what happened—“the official inquiry into the accident was inconclusive”. It is unknown if Third Officer Carstens-Johannsen and Captain Calamai had misinterpreted the radar, but what is known is that the Stockhom “was traveling outside the lane normally used by northbound vessels”, while the Andrea Doria “chose to pass on her starboard (right) side rather than the customary port (left) side”. In other words, the Stockholm decided to travel “on the standard port-to-port pass (on the left), Doria’s Captain, Piero Calamai, elected to pass on the starboard (right) side”. Both ships were going the wrong direction and it wasn’t until the ships were a mile apart that they saw the other.
Calamai ordered for the Andrea Doria to take a sharp left while Carstens-Johannsen desperately tried to slow the Stockholm by reversing the propellers. Unfortunately, both were too late. At 11:10 p.m., the Stockholm’s icebreaker bow “struck the Italian liner at her most vulnerable place, ripping open seven of the Andrea Doria’s eleven decks and rupturing her fuel tanks”, “penetrating some 30 feet into its hull”. Almost instantly the Andrea Doria began to list, passing the 15 degrees she was designed to withstand and forcing engineers to realize that the ship could not be righted. The Captain order the passages and crew to abandon ship.
With the port side at such a dangerous angle, the lifeboats stationed there could not be deployed. Out of the 1,706 people on board, only 1,004 could safely evacuate on the remaining lifeboats. Captain Calamari instantly sent out an S.O.S, catching the attention of ships nearby. The Cape Ann, a cargo ship with two lifeboats, was closest. Covering the 15 ½ miles in only 30 minutes, the messages from the Andrea Doria were incessant: “Impossible to Put Lifeboats at Sea”, “We Need Boats”, “Need Immediate Assistance”. The Ile de France, a French ocean liner, made her way to the wreckage. It was at 12:15 that Captain Calamai sent a message to the Stockholm: “You Are One Mile From Us. Please, if Possible, Come Immediately to Pick Up Our Passengers”. After ensuring that the Stockholm was not in any danger or had any critical damage, the captain ordered many of her lifeboats into the water and to the Andrea Doria.
The rescue of the Andrea Doria was marked to be one of the largest maritime rescue in history. Lasting several hours, nearly all the survivor’s had been evacuated by 5:30 a.m. and by 10:09 a.m., the Andrea Doria disappeared under the ocean waves.
In the end, the Andrea Doria’s captain, crew, and shipbuilders were blamed for the tragedy. It is only recently that researchers believe “that Carstens made the crucial error by misreading his radar and concluding that the Doria was several miles farther away than it actually was”. Even today, the blame for this tragedy is still an ongoing a topic of debate.
Still, this does not change the fact that the Andrea Doria rests 240 feet beneath the surface of the North Atlantic, slowly disintegrating.
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