The Sinking of the Andrea Doria (2006)

The Sinking of the Andrea Doria is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2006.

It is an episode of the long-running program Secrets of the Dead.

Here is some basic information about this film:

** Directed by Fabio Toncelli

** Written by Elizabeth Goodman & Jeffrey H. Swimmer

** Historical consultant: Maurizio Eliseo

** Narrated by Liev Schreiber

** Run time: 54 minutes

This is the story of a naval disaster which happened on 25 July 1956 when two ocean liners, the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm, collided with each other in the Atlantic Ocean. This film explains how and why it happened.

The participants

The persons who are interviewed in the film can be divided into four categories:

# 1. Crew of the Andrea Doria

** Eugenio Giannini, third mate

** Giovanni Cordera, second engine officer

** Guido Badano, second officer

# 2. Surviving passengers of the Andrea Doria

** Dante Gallinari

** Jerome Reinert

** Pat Mastrincola

** Liliana Dooner Hughes

** Giovanna & Leonardo Paladino

# 3. Crew of the Stockholm

** Johan-Ernst Carstens-Johannsen, known as Carstens, third mate

# 4. Authors, scholars and maritime experts

** Richard Goldstein, journalist, author

** David Bright (1957-2006), president, Nautical Research Group

** Angelo Buglione, attorney, maritime law

** Kenneth Volk (1922-2012), president, Maritime Law Association, US

** Robert Meurn, professor, US Merchant Marine Academy (now retired)

Disaster at sea

The Italian liner, the Andrea Doria, was sailing from Genoa to New York carrying ca. 1,200 passengers and a crew of ca. 500.

The Swedish liner, the Stockholm, was sailing from New York to Gothenburg carrying ca. 500 passengers and a crew of ca. 200.

The collision occurred off Nantucket Island, in a busy shipping lane, not far from New York.

Both ships were going quite fast: the Stockholm was doing 18 knots, while the Andrea Doria had reduced speed from 23 to 21.8 knots, because it was travelling in heavy fog, but this was still quite fast.

The two ships were approaching each other at a combined speed of almost 40 knots, which is a very high speed on water. When blame for the disaster must be assigned, both sides are guilty on this account. If they had slowed down to around 10 knots, the collision could easily have been averted.

Both ships were equipped with radar. They could see each other on the radar screen long before they had visual contact. Once they had visual contact, it was too late to avoid the collision, because both ships were going too fast.

Amazingly, it seems the two ships did not have radio contact with each other before the collision. Later, radio was used to send out an SOS asking ships nearby to offer assistance.

As the two ships were approaching each other, both maneuvered in way which made things even worse. They were supposed to pass each other about one mile apart. But instead, the Stockholm rammed the starboard side of the Andrea Doria.

The bow of the Stockholm had been hardened, so it was able to cut through ice when sailing in Swedish waters in winter time. Now the bow cut through the metal side of the Andrea Doria, causing huge damage to both ships.

The Andrea Doria took in water and listed heavily to one side. Now life boats on one side of the ship were useless, because they could not be lowered into the water.

Fortunately, she stayed afloat for 11 hours, during which surviving passengers and crew were rescued. After 11 hours she sank to the bottom of the ocean.

The Stockholm was also damaged, but stayed afloat. After temporary repairs, she could limp back to New York by her own power.

On the Andrea Doria, 43 passengers were killed on impact. On the Stockholm, five passengers were killed on impact. The total number of casualties was 48 on impact.

Four passengers later died of injuries, bringing the total number of casualties to 52.

Several ships responded to the SOS and they were able to rescue passengers and crew from the Andrea Doria, because she stayed afloat for 11 hours.

When news about the disaster reached New York, reporters chartered a plane that circled the area the next morning, 26 July 1956, while the rescue operation was still going on. This is why there is live footage of the last moments of the Andrea Doria.

The blame game

Once the passengers and the crews of both ships were safe in New York, it was time to ask the difficult questions:

How could this disaster happen? How could the two ships collide in a huge ocean? How could the crews of two ships misread each other with such terrible consequences?

Was the area covered by fog or not? The crew of the Andrea Doria said yes, while the crew of the Stockholm claimed it was a clear night.

In the film, these questions are discussed and answers are given. Not everyone offers the same answer! It was a game in which each side blamed the other.

The owners of the ships worried about the money they might have to pay in compensation and about the bad publicity that might follow in the wake of the disaster.

As the film explains, the two companies took the easy way out: an out-of-court settlement gave low compensation to the surviving passengers and the families of the victims.

In this way they avoided a long and painful court case which might have been more expensive for them. Both companies wanted to bury this episode as quickly as possible and move on.

But the world was changing. The sinking of the Andrea Doria signalled the end of an era. After this disaster, more people would fly across the Atlantic and fewer would choose an ocean liner to travel from one continent to the other.

Immediately after the disaster, the Swedish company was better at doing PR for itself than the Italian company. In the court of public opinion, the Italian side was to blame.

But when experts began to study the data available, they came to another conclusion. They said while both sides made unfortunate decisions, the Swedish side deserved more blame than the Italian side.

The Italians had followed procedure: the captain was on the bridge, and they were using the fog horn, because they were travelling in a heavy fog. What was wrong on this side was that they were going too fast.

The Swedes did not follow procedure: the captain was not on the bridge; he had left a single man – third mate Carstens – on the bridge, telling him to call him, if there was any problem. Carstens never called him, not even as the disaster was about to happen. The Swedish ship did not use the fog horn; according to Carstens, because it was a clear night. But other ships in the area confirmed that there was indeed a heavy fog during that night.

The Swedish ship had diverted from its regular route in order to save time and it was going too fast. Carstens saw the Italian ship on his radar, but it seems he misjudged the distance.

He thought it was fifteen miles away, when the real distance was only five miles. Perhaps his radar used one setting, while he thought it was using another.

Carstens appears in the film. He is the only witness from the Stockholm. No other crew member appears, and no passengers of the Stockholm appear. Perhaps it was not possible to find anyone? Perhaps they were no longer alive when the film was being made?

In his testimony, Carstens insists that there was no fog on that night. He defends his actions, saying he did not do anything wrong.

In this way, the film gives a balanced view. While the film as a whole supports the view that the Swedish side deserves more blame than the Italian side, the Swedish side is allowed to be heard.

The Swedes implied the Andrea Doria sank, because it was built by an Italian shipyard which had delivered a poor product. In other words: the Italians only had themselves to blame. This argument does not stand up to close scrutiny.

When diver David Bright inspected the wreck on the bottom of the sea, he discovered that the damage to the ship was much worse than previously thought. Given this fact, it was a miracle that she stayed afloat for 11 hours before sinking.

As stated above, these 11 hours were crucial, because it meant that there was time to rescue passengers and crew. The Italian captain was the last man to leave the ship shortly before it went down.

David Bright, who appears in the film, made several dives to the wreck. After a dive in 2006, he suffered a heart attack and died. This film is dedicated to his memory.

Conclusion

The film is composed of four elements:

# 1. Interviews with witnesses.

# 2. Old footage, some in black-and-white, some in colour.

# 3. Re-enactment of certain scenes.

# 4. Computer generated images of certain scenes.

The combination of the four elements makes a good variation. The witnesses are well-chosen. The surviving passengers give this account a human aspect, while the experts deal with practical and technical issues.

The Sinking of the Andrea Doria is highly recommended. It covers an important topic and does so very well. Since this is the story of a horrible disaster, I cannot say you will enjoy this film, but I think you can appreciate it.

If you are interested in the history of the modern world, in particular the history of the maritime world, this film is definitely something for you.

PS # 1. Numerous books have been written about this disaster. Here is a small selection:

Collision Course by Alvin Moscow (1959) (reprinted 2004) (this early account blames the Italian side)

Desperate Hours: The Epic Rescue of the Andrea Doria by Richard Goldstein (2001) (2003) (as you can see from the title, this account focuses on the rescue operation) (the author appears in the film)

Anatomy of a Collision by Robert Meurn (2013) (the author, who appears in the film, blames the Swedish side)

Alive on the Andrea Doria by Pierette Domenica Simpson (2006) (2008) (the author is an Italian survivor, who blames the Swedish side)

Out of the Fog by Algot Mattson (2003) (this account is an English translation of a book that was published in Swedish in 1986. The author used to work for the Swedish company that owned the Stockholm. It is not surprising that this account blames the Italian side)

Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria by Kevin F. Murray (2001) (2002) (as the title says, this book is about divers who have tried to reach the wreck of the Andrea Doria on the bottom of the sea. It is a dangerous project: not all of them lived to talk about it)

PS # 2. The Italian version of this film is a bit longer than the US (English) version. It runs for 76 minutes:

Il naufragio dell Andrea Doria

(2006)

PS # 3. Secrets of the Dead is a television program produced by PBS. The first episode was aired in the year 2000. The program is still running today. The topic under review here is season 05 episode 04 from 2006.

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