Andrea Doria 46 years on

[Iain Stuart Yardley]

Morning all,

Today is the 46th anniversary of the Andrea Doria disaster. Of all the survivors in 1956, who is still alive? I'd imagine quite a few.

Cheers,

Boz

 

[Martin Owen Cahill]

Iain.

I am aware that as I read this it is now 11.50pm NZ time. At this point on the night there are many frightened people on a crippled ship that, for all they knew, might capsize at any minute. The Ile de France is still a good hour away.

thanks for the reminder.

Martin

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Boz, you might want to click on http://www.andreadoria.org/

This webmaster is a survivor and it's a well researched site to. One of the very best dealing with the subject.

 

[Martin Owen Cahill]

Michael,

I have known of this site for a long time and I fully agree with you. It is a must see. ***** stars!

Martin

 

[Jeremy Watson]

Does anyone know how long the Adrea doria was? It would be great if someone told me, So I don't have to go all over the net looking for it. Thanks.


-titanic1912

 

[Tracy Smith]

The Andrea Doria was 697 feet long.

 

[greg robertson]

ANDREA DORIA:

Built by Ansaldo Shipyards, Genoa, 1953
29,083 GT
700 ft Long
90 ft Wide



23 Knots

 

[Jeremy Watson]

Thank you very much Tracy!

-Titanic1912

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

The Fall River Marine Museum recently put in a permanent Doria exhibit. I had a look last weekend- quite a large display featuring dishes, currency, and structural elements.
http://www.marinemuseum.org/andreadoria.html

 

[Erik Wood]

For those interested that Doria accident is still taught at most merchant marine academies in the U.S..

Erik

 

[David G. Brown]

Although I teach students aspiring to much smaller licenses than are needed for an ocean liner, I too use the Doria/Stockholm collision in my classes. Specifically, I use it to illustrate why the Rules Of The Road tell mariners not to make assumptions, particularly from scanty radar information. And, why the Rules say that when you are near a bank of fog you must operate as if your vessel is in restricted visibility. We learned a lot from the Doria/Stockholm affair, but at a cost of too many innocent lives.

-- David G. Brown

 

[Erik Wood]

The classes on the Doria not only teach navigation in restricted visability i.e. fog, but also about the proper ballasting of a ship. As a general rule mariners shouldn't make assumptions because it usually makes an ASS out of U and will most assuradly cause you to loose your license.

With the loss of the Andrea Doria much was learned, especially about radar (which was still in it's infancy in the passenger trade in 1956) and how reliable it is. Some of todays practices can be traced back to the lessons learned from the Andrea Doria.

I think I am going to have to attend one of Dave's classes. If for no other reason then to heckal.

Erik

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>As a general rule mariners shouldn't make assumptions because it usually makes an ASS out of U and will most assuradly cause you to loose your license.<<

If your license is all you lose, then the lesson is a cheap one. All too often, people pay a higher price. (Is "dead" high enough?)

I've heard the Andria vs. Stockholm contest referred to as histories first radar assisted collision. From what I've seen, there's a lot of truth to that. For anyone that wants to buy a really good book on the subject, click on http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/047138934X/qid=1028089370/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-0709579-8200968 for a copy of Desperate Hours. Not only is this a good account of the events that led up to the collision, it's a good study on just how difficult it is to tranfer people at sea from a distressed ship to rescue vessels.

 

[Erik Wood]

Mike can always be counted on to refer you to a great book. Thanks for the link Mike, I think this may make my August purchase list.

Erik

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I bought it at Barnes & Noble several months ago when Tracy and myself were on one of our joint book hunting expeditions. I think you'll find it worth the price.

 

[Erik Wood]

Hmmm,

If I recall rightly we have written a paper about transfers at sea. What was it called again???

 

[Tracy Smith]

I couldn't imagine......

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Haven't the foggiest.

 

[Erik Wood]

I didn't think so.

One of the problems with the Andrea Doria is that she had a rather nasty list to one side. Which made evcuation all that much more difficult.

 

[Jesse D O'Neill]

Heres another good book if anyones interested, a bit controversial, though still good and reliable, and this book tells the story from how the Swedes viewed it, and has alot of carstens quotes and opinions in the book, i highly recomend it.

Out of the Fog
Algot Mattsson, Assisted by Bruce and Gordon Paulsen (Gordon was Assistant attorney for swedish American line)
Cornell Maritime Press, 2003 (originally published in sweden in 1986, translated in 2003)

if anyone would like, i have a copy of Kenneth Volks(Eugene Underwood's Assistant Attorney) book review on Mattsson's book, n would be willing to share it w/ who ever wishes to read it.