Scuba Geek

Story of the Andrea Doria July 27, 2006

Posted by Andy Carroll in : WreckDiving , trackback

As it is the 50th anniversary of the Andrea Doria, I thought I’d do some digging and found a nice article which covers some of the history of the sinking of the Italian luxury liner, and some of the people on board. Apparently, at least 14 people have died whilst exploring the wreck, the latest one being on July 8th this year, when David Bright died from Decompression Illness.

The Andrea Doria sank after colliding with the Stockholm, a Swedish passenger ship. There were disputes over whose fault it was and the case was eventually settled out of court, but many say it was simply human error. The collision paved the way for increased communications between vessels as well as well defined shipping lanes, which means that a similar incident today is unlikely.

This from usatoday.com;

The 3-year-old Andrea Doria then radioed its own SOS, a last cry from a vessel already doomed. Water gushing into the gaping hole drowned many victims and tilted the 700-foot liner so sharply that her portside lifeboats could not be lowered.

Fortunately, at least 15 ships were close enough to respond. About 1,660 people on the Andrea Doria were saved, and 46 people died. Five were lost on the Stockholm.

The luckiest survivor was 14-year-old Linda Morgan, the daughter of radio commentator Edward P. Morgan. The ships’ collision vaulted her from her cabin on the Andrea Doria to the Stockholm’s deck, where crewmembers found her, shaken but unhurt. Her stepfather and half-sister died.

Other survivors included film star Ruth Roman and songwriter Mike Stoller. Upon landing in New York, Stoller’s partner, Jerry Lieber, told him their song Hound Dog had just been recorded by “some white kid named Elvis Presley.” Stoller, who had been away four months, asked, “Elvis who?”