Andrea Doria Anniversary.

[marco]

Today is the 59th anniversary of the sinking. Went to Italy to visit grandparents when I was 5. We were on the 2nd to the last eastbound sailing. Were supposed to come home on her in August but got moved to the Cristofo Columbo.

[DocF]

The other ship in the collision, the M.S. Stockholm still sails as the cruise ship M. S. Azores. She is much rebuilt over the years and bears little resemblance to the original ship. The most interesting thing that has been done is the bustle on the stern.

 

This was the first disaster that television pretty much covered as close to live as the technology would permit.

 

Doc

[rkacruiser]

Thanks, marco, for reminding those of us who love maritime history of this tragedy.

 

I was a very young teen-ager when Andrea Doria sank and had just become interested in steamship travel thanks to the articles and ads in Holiday magazine. I watched "Douglas Edwards with the Evening News" on CBS when this event was covered and saved the articles/pictures that were published in Life Magazine. As sad as the disaster was/is, it further aroused my curiosity to learn more about traveling on the ocean.

 

To think that the M.S. Stockholm still "lives", particularly in comparison to the demise of the fine Swedish American liners, M.S. Kungsholm and M.S. Gripsholm, just has never seemed to me to be quite right.

 

May those who lost their lives on both the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria, as well as Captain Calamai who never recovered from the loss of his ship, rest in peace.