{"id":2507,"date":"2022-07-01T10:58:08","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T14:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nelights.com\/blog\/?p=2507"},"modified":"2026-07-28T22:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T02:04:53","slug":"greatest-coordinated-sea-rescue-of-the-andrea-doria-wreck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nelights.com\/blog\/greatest-coordinated-sea-rescue-of-the-andrea-doria-wreck\/","title":{"rendered":"Greatest Coordinated Sea Rescue of the Andrea Doria Wreck"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"andrea<\/a>

Andrea Doria<\/em> Painting by artist Harry Ahysen. Image courtesy of the Ahysen family and the US Coast Guard<\/p><\/div>\n

The Wreck of the Andrea Doria\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span>Off Nantucket Island in Massachusetts Became<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0One of the Greatest Coordinated Sea Rescues\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

In dense fog on July 25, 1956, around 11 p.m., the nearly 700-foot passenger liner Andrea Doria<\/em>, bound for New York, was rammed broadside by the 528-foot-long Swedish steamer Stockholm<\/em>. The collision occurred 50 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. In one of the most extraordinary coordinated rescue efforts between vessels and rescue services, all but 46 of the nearly 1,700 people on board were saved.<\/p>\n

On July 17, 1956, the Andrea Doria<\/em> left Genoa, Italy, sailing west and heading to New York City. On board were 1,134 passengers and 572 crew members. Of all Italy’s ships at the time, the Andrea Doria<\/em> was the most prominent, fastest, and supposedly safest vessel afloat. On the last evening of her voyage, the Andrea Doria<\/em> encountered fog. Captain Piero Calamai, a 40-year veteran, ordered the foghorn to be blown repeatedly. However, he did not significantly reduce the ship\u2019s speed, which would only have enabled the boat to stop within a 3-mile range. At the same time, the Stockholm<\/em>, which had left New York that morning, was sailing east, bound for Sweden.<\/p>\n

Johan-Ernst Carstens, the Stockholm\u2019s<\/em> third mate who was commanding the bridge, turned his ship to the right of the Doria<\/em> from information he received from an incorrect radar reading, believing the Doria<\/em> to be 14 miles away instead of its actual location only 4 miles away. He failed to signal the maneuver with his ship\u2019s whistle, putting the two vessels on a collision course.<\/p>\n

When the Andrea Doria<\/em> emerged from the fog, the crew saw the oncoming lights of the Stockholm<\/em>. Captain Calamai of the Andrea Doria<\/em> saw the Stockholm’s<\/em> lights and realized it was turning directly into the Doria<\/em>. Panicking, Calamai ordered to make a hard left turn in hopes of avoiding the approaching ship. This became the fatal move because it exposed the Doria’s<\/em> side to the bow of the Stockholm<\/em>. The situation was only made worse because the vessel did not communicate by whistle or radio, so instead of trying to sail away when each spotted the other, they turned towards one another and collided. The Stockholm<\/em> crashed into the Andrea Doria<\/em>, killing 45 people instantly, along with five crewmen of the Stockholm<\/em>. The impact opened such a gaping hole in the Doria’s<\/em> side that within minutes, the ship was leaning dangerously on her right side, flooding the ship\u2019s watertight compartments that helped to keep the monstrous vessel afloat. As a result, at least half of the lifeboats on the Andrea Doria<\/em> could not be lowered because the ship’s right side was listing dangerously into the water.<\/p>\n

\"Andrea<\/a>

Andrea Doria. Image courtesy of US Coast Guard.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Coast Guard monitoring station on Long Island quickly picked up the first SOS messages sent from both the Andrea Doria<\/em> and the Stockholm<\/em>. They could then put into action probably the most effective rescue operations of the time. In addition, other ships in the area, the Cape Ann, the Navy Transport Pvt. William H. Thomas and the tidewater tanker Robert E. Hopkins were all hurrying to assist in the rescue effort, although they only had a few lifeboats.<\/p>\n

The captain of the Andrea Doria<\/em> radioed: “Danger immediate. Need boats to evacuate 1,000 persons and 500 crew members. We need boats.” The captain of the Ile de France<\/em>, Baron Raoul de Beaudan, was only 44 miles from the accident site and received the Doria\u2019s<\/em> distress signal. The French liner Ile de France<\/em> had just left New York with many passengers and was heading for France. The captain quickly turned his ship around to help in the rescue effort, as he had plenty of lifeboats aboard. All these ships helped keep this accident from becoming an even greater disaster, but the Ile de France rescued the most passengers. With repeated radio attempts by the Andrea Doria\u2019s<\/em> captain to have the Stockholm<\/em> aid in the rescue, the captain of the Stockholm<\/em>, Harry Gunner Nordenson, was also concerned with the well-being of his ship. After evaluating that his boat would not sink, he launched seven lifeboats to aid the Andrea Doria\u2019s<\/em> passengers. The Stockholm<\/em> left the collision scene and, with massive damage to its bow, slowly made it back safely to New York.<\/p>\n

On board the Stockholm<\/em>, a sailor discovered a 14-year-old girl named Linda Morgan entangled in the wreckage near the bow. He could not find her name on the Stockholm\u2019s passenger list and was surprised when she told him she was a passenger on the Andrea Doria<\/em>. She had been thrown from her bed on the Andrea Doria<\/em> onto the Stockholm<\/em> during the collision. She was known afterward as the \u201cmiracle child,\u201d although her half-sister and stepfather died from injuries suffered on the Andrea Doria<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As the night wore on, rescue ships and the Coast Guard arrived to take the passengers to safety. Some passengers panicked and jumped overboard, to be later picked up in the lifeboats, while many slid down ropes and makeshift steps to the security of their rescuers. Many families became separated from each other in the chaos. By 6:00 a.m., all the survivors had been placed onto the rescue ships that came to help and were heading to the shore.<\/p>\n

The Doria’s<\/em> remaining crew began to abandon the ship, along with Captain Calamai, by 9 a.m. The great liner began to sink at 9:45 a.m., and by 10:09 that morning, news crews witnessed the Andrea Doria<\/em> entirely disappearing from the site. It sank eleven hours after the collision with the Stockholm<\/em>. With such a dramatic rescue effort, all but 46 (45 were killed instantly on impact) of the nearly 1,700 people on board were saved.<\/p>\n

\"Andria<\/a>

Andrea Doria<\/em>\u00a0sinking hours after colliding with the Swedish ship Stockholm<\/em> off the coast of Nantucket Island. Photo by Harry A. Trask.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Aftermath<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

As the Andrea Doria<\/em> sank beneath the waves and came to rest 160 feet below the surface southwest of Nantucket Island, accusations began to fly about who was responsible for the collision. While Captain Calamai of the Andrea Doria<\/em> swore that there was a thick fog that evening, the Stockholm<\/em> claimed that there was no fog. However, in July, with such extreme weather quite typical in and around the Cape Cod region, both men may have been telling the truth. The owners of both ships settled out of court.<\/p>\n

For years afterward, it was commonly held that the Andrea Doria<\/em> and its captain were to blame for the accident. More recent investigations have cleared Captain Calamai, who died before being vindicated. Although this was a tragic event, with so many mariners coordinating to rescue those in peril, it became one of history’s greatest coordinated sea rescues. Much was learned from the event to train those involved with future rescue efforts. As a result of this disaster, improved radar training was required, and ships were required to make contact by radio. In a bit of irony, two years after the collision, by 1958, airlines began offering nonstop jet travel between the United States and Europe, indicating an end to the passenger liner era.<\/p>\n

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The Andrea Doria<\/em> lies in about 160 feet of water with strong currents and low visibility. The site is a popular dive site for extremely professional recreational divers. Still, it is considered very challenging, and some divers have perished exploring these bottomless waters over the years.<\/p>\n

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