If you do not have the competence avoid making videos full of inaccuracies. First, numerous studies and research have been done to show that the Andrea Doria has not made any mistakes. And that the faults are of the crew and the captain of the Stockholm. And Captain Calamai wanted to sink with the Andrea Doria. But it was the subordinates who forced Calamai to abandon the ship
Random factoid: You know that DIY submersible named “Titan” that was built by Stockton Rush that imploded with him and others inside when journeying to visit the Titanic? I read that in an earlier voyage of his, he visited the sunken Andrea Doria, and CRASHED his sub into it like an idiot! That guy was a disaster in everything he did!
idk why but youve made me obsessed with ship disaster stories ever since the costa concordia vid 3 yrs later edit: still obsessed but now also with planes
I was born on the Andrea Doria!!!! So, I loved your video! There were 6 Doria babies born on the Andre Doria during her lifetime. I was born on March 20, 1954 along with a another baby. My name is Giuseppina Andreina Falasca and I hope to get a model of the Andrea Doria. Thank you for your video!
@@Dulcimertunes Yes, my father immigrated first and was waiting for my mother in New York. He had no clue that his wife had a baby and that he was a new father. He waited and waited and she did not disembark so he asked a crew member and they replied that she had her baby. We stayed in NY for a week as he arranged a train trip back to our home in Akron, Ohio!
It was pretty funny to hear the Coast Guard rip him a new asshole though. “Look Schettino, you may have saved yourself from the sea, I’m going to make sure you get in trouble. I am going to make you pay for this”
1912: "My dear, I bought tickets for us for the maiden voyage of the Titanic for our anniversary." 1915: "Mom, relax, the Titanic was once in a lifetime. The Lusitania won't hit any icebergs and dad would want you to enjoy the cruise." 1956: "My dearest grandchildren, Thank you for this wonderful cruise. I was scared to board at first, but the Andrea Doria is the safest cruise liner there is. "It's getting a bit foggy outside, so I'm going to bed."
There was also a British Man named Arthur John priest who survived the Titanic, Britannic, many WW2 and other passenger ships before passing away of pneumonia in his bed
My dad who is still living was a passenger on the Andrea Doria at the time of the sinking, along with my grandparents and my 2 uncles. They were emigrating from Italy to the US. Everything they owned went to the bottom of the Atlantic.
My grandmother's sister-in-law was on the Andrea Doria when she went down. She was coming over to attend her nephew's wedding. Sadly, she was one of the casualties. I believe she might have been killed in the collision. The wedding was a bit more solemn as everyone mourned her loss.
Disaster docs always be like that "There were 10000 puppies on one ship and 10000kt of TNT on the other alone in the middle of the pacific ocean headed for eachother at 100000 knots"
no that was when he was talking about the Stockholm the smaller ship, mentioned at 4:38. if your gonna try and be funny at least make sure your factual.
My mom was supposed to be on that ship on the voyage when it sank. But she decided to take another ship and leave Italy earlier. The day after she got back to NYC she saw the Andrea Doria sinking on TV.
One of the most interesting stories from the sinking was Linda Morgan’s. She was a 14 year old girl on the Andrea Doria, and by some miracle when the Stockholm bow crashed into the ship she was lifted from her bed on the AD and safely onto the crushed bow of the Stockholm. The crew found her later because she was calling out to her mother in Spanish, which was odd because it was a Swedish ship. Her husband was mayor of San Antonio, TX in the late 2000’s.
Back in 1956 one of my classmates in elementary school was on board the Andrea Doria. He and his sister and his mother all survived. We were watching the news on TV, and I saw him on the news. I exclaimed "Hey Tucker". We were relieved that they were safe and sound.
If you read the story of the Titanic, other ships were nearby but didn’t respond to distress calls until it was too late to save passengers from the cold Atlantic waters.
I remember this well as my father was the port engineer at Pier 84 in NY where the Doria docked. I will never forget the phone call my dad got that fatal morning. It was the first time I ever saw my father cry. Capt. Calamai and my father were friends. Capt. Calamai was never the same. He always blamed himself for the loss of life and the loss of his ship.
@@gordonbergslien30 The captain lived on until 1972! Edit: sorry, I rushed to judgment. I see from Daniel Huffman's comment further down that those were indeed the captain's last words in 1972, 16 years after the sinking. A sad reflection on how extreme age and nearness of death can bring the reality of old memories to the fore.
Yes understand that indeed. She was a beautiful ship for her time. She did indeed have her problems in reference to her design. If not mistaken even on her sea trials she did not do well on heavy seas, which would have her listing beyond her actually design. She was a beautiful ship, pride of Italy, after the war. Its seems during her voyage back New York, her tanks were close to empty. Unfortunately they did compensate for that, in reference to ballast. Sure that she could have recovered, even though she did remain afloat, till next day 11 hours after the ill fated collision. Its unfortunate they were not able to save this beautiful vessel that was indeed a pride of Italy after ww2.
The issue with the Titanic was that lifeboats were not expected to fend for themselves at sea with survivors aboard, The idea was that ships took long enough to sink that the lifeboats should be able to make multiple trips between the sinking ship and ships that come to its aid. The real issue with the Titanic was that ships were not required to have radio operators always on duty so it's distressed calls went unanswered even though there were several ships close enough to help.
Loved seeing this. My parents sailed aboard the Andrea Doria one year before it sank. We have several items they saved, like, menus, flyers about activities and other items. Thank you for this video.
Really?? I’d love to see some photos! Do you have a site where they’re posted for viewing?? That’s such an amazing thing to own, you’re so lucky, hindsight is wonderful (-:
My mother remembers the Stockholm arriving at port in NY and going to see it after her work shift ended. By the time the Stockholm arrived at port, people knew that the Andrea Doria had sunk and why, and my mother marveled that the Stockholm had suffered so little damage in the collision. Now I want her to tell me the story again. I never thought I would say that.
@berinde the Stockholm was a vessel, reinforced bow, since she sailed in the north Atlantic, at times the weather would change. Her bow was constructed to slice through ice flows, foyrds, during her travel in the north atlantic. The MS Stockholm, is still sailing, even though she has been refurbished, refitted, sailing under many countries regestires, she will still remain loved a pride of Sweden.
I got goosebumps from all the efforts from all those nearby ships. Also, one small thing to point out is that the captain is not a coward like those on the Oceanos or the Costa Concordia.
Unfortunately, Captain Calamai never accepted another command, and lived the rest of his life in sadness "as a man who has lost a son", according to his daughter. His last words, when he died in 1972, were reportedly, "Are the passengers saved?"
So did I! 😀 great to know I!'m not alone in this. Also this is the second time I hear about this one, and it still gave me goose bumps. You find an equally great video about this in youtube channel LemMino
Captain Smith of the R.M.S. Titanic did his duty right as he stayed aboard the ship and went down with the ship as it is common practice if a ship were to go down the captain would be the last to exit OR go down with the ship. get your facts straight before you comment
@@genekelly8467 He didn’t ignore any though, there was one that never made it to the bridge but by then they had gotten so many it wouldn’t matter. Captain Smith had already changed course south to try to avoid the icebergs, and slowing down wasn’t seen as much of an option as few other liners did it and it would look bad for a captain to slow down a scheduled ship for something that was seen as “minor” as icebergs. I also highly doubt Lightoller of all people would suggest slowing down. His later career would prove he himself was a very aggressive naval officer (he attacked a fricken zeppelin with a torpedo boat and even in WW2 he personally took his own motor yacht to rescue British soldiers stranded in Dunkirk). His own accounts of the sinking also seem to suffer from a case of the “unreliable narrator”.
My great uncle was on the first row boat to reach the Andrea Doria. He was on the SS Cape Ann that saved one hundred and twenty nine victims of the disaster, many of them were injuried. He told us that the hole in the ship was not that large and it was unbelievable that the ship sank. Joseph Rinkowski was his name and he received a metal for it.
I've known of the Andrea Doria and Stockholm for a very long time, but it blew my mind to know the Stockholm is STILL afloat. Thanks much for the new knowledge in your great video.
Maybe not for much longer, I'm afraid. The cruise industry has been hit hard by COVID-19-induced travel restrictions, and selling a bunch of older ships for scrap.
My late grandfather was retired from the U.S. Coast Guard and an avid sailor. He used to tell me stories of shipwrecks he had assisted with, and my grandparents home was always full of nauticle replicas and books on maritime disasters. Watching the shipwreck videos you put out makes me feel close to him, like I'm listening to one of his stories. If he were still alive I would definitely save to get him one of those amazing replicas. I really appriciate the effort you put into these and I hope you keep making them!
My first cousin twice removed, Luigi DeCristo, was a steward on Italian liners SS Saturnia, SS Andrea Doria, and SS Cristoforo Colombo. He was onboard the night the Andrea Doria sank and was among the survivors. What amazes me just as much as his survival is that he was immediately reassigned to the sister ship, Colombo. Thank you for this wonderful video.
Despite the numerous mistakes on both parties, it always makes me happy when people who have no correlation with each other work together to help out those in desperate need.
The maritime rule for head-to-head collision avoidance is: Pass to Port (port side to port side) which is precisely what the Stockholm did by altering her course to starboard - all too late, perhaps because of a radar mis-interpretation. The problem was that the AD had already turned the 'wrong way' - perhaps in the belief that the oncoming vessel was actually crossing the shipping lanes and NOT steaming straight towards her down the wrong channel, as the Stockholm was . . . - there is also an error in the narration later in the clip that reverses the directions each ship turned.
I remember reading a similar book by Robert Ballard when I was a kid. It was in my elementary school library and was called "Ghost Liners". It had 5 ship wrecks in it, Titanic, Britanic, Lusitania, Empress if Ireland, and Andrea Doria. I read it all the time and it definitely sparked my interest in ship wrecks too. I still have a keen interest in the subject and on old ocean liners in general.
Seriously the term “Unsinkable” needs to stop being applied to ships If you want to apply that to a space station FINE DO THAT cuz there’s no fuckin water in space
Most people are too young to remember the television news coverage that occurred. You couldn't miss it at the time. Now, with so many cable channels and the internet, there is no common experience. I never saw anything about it on Seinfeld. However, I never watched Seinfeld.
@@AaronShenghao it’s still expected. The Concordia captain who abandoned the still sinking ship was held responsible because of abandoning his post while there were still people who could be saved.
@@doubtful_seer Same with that South Korean Ferry, the Captain was literally the first one off while High school students were left on the ship. Almost all the crew on that ship survived and most of the students died. the Captain was subsequently jailed for life, he was lucky to avoid the death penalty.
As they should. The captain and crew are responsible with evacuating the passengers from the ship. When they bail early they are essentially leaving panicked and confused passengers to die.
Update on the Astoria: In mid-February 2021, the ship was put up for auction with a minimum sale price set at €10 million and final bids to be submitted by March 1, but the deadline passed without any offers. The ship remains in custody in Rotterdam while the owners and creditors deliberate on the next course of action
This goes to show that these sailing rules and protocols are there for a reason, they work! When you break rules or take shortcuts, disaster can happen. But it also shows that, when you follow proper rescue procedures, many lives can be saved. Everything from the ships helping each other, to nearby ships responding to distress calls, to the captain staying on leading rescue operations until the end was done accordingly. Also you should never brand any ship as unsinkable
One of the survivor, a young lady named Linda Morgan, was actually asleep in the front part of the Andrea Doria when it hit the Stockholm. Her sister and stepfather were killed, but Linda herself was somehow lifted from the Doria and thrown to the deck of the Stockholm by the impact where she was discovered by a crewmember
@@EdisonCollector the ice breaker bow pierced the ship’s side at speed and as Stockholm was simultaneously at full reverse on her engines she backed that rapidly with the young girl on deck. A bizarre and terrible miracle.
The ship that took my Graduate Group from Copenhagen to Oslo overnight was the icebreaker S.S. Stockholm ( now the SS Astoria). It was February, 1956, in Scandinavia, and the Kattegat strip between Denmark and Norway was frozen over. Our little ship never slowed down, and sliced through the ice all night.....naturally, no one could sleep. When we heard about the July tragedy, we were not surprised by the damage done. Memories we never forget!
@sarahhearn-vonfoerster7401 indeed well done to the Swedish shipbuilders. Even though ms Stockholm; has been refitted; redesigned; renamed; flew under many flags of other countries. To this day; she is the longest vessel to achieve all of that. Once again; just to say she will always be the pride of Sweden.
They never labeled the Andrea Doria as unsinkable, they only labeled it as being very safe. They also never labeled Titanic as unsinkable either, the closest they got was a magazine that said it was “so safe it’s practically unsinkable!”. The newspapers gave it that label after the sinking. Funny enough, the only liner I can think of that was actually labeled as unsinkable was the United States, which is still afloat
I wish I could go back in time to be there when someone’s dumbass said “I know that if two ships every come close like this, we are supposed to go right...but hear me out...what if we went LEFT”
you need to think that the radar and the rules around it at the time werent as good as now. now add that to the fact that Andrea Doria had the shoals at the starboard so on their perspective it would be dngerous do turn for that side. It was still the wrong decision. that doesnt change, and the outcome is obvious now, but we need to put ourselves in their position at that time.
Any mention of the one of a kind Chrysler Norseman? It was a concept car built in cooperation with an Italian company. It was supposed to be a big showpiece at an upcoming US auto show but they sent it over on the Andrea Dorea
@jantyszka1036 believe that she still is sailing, she is the MS Astoria. Actually age is still a number, she will still be remembered as a beautiful ship that was built in Sweden so many years ago. Can you think of any ship that has survived all these years and are still sailing.
Can you imagine being in the correct shipping lane, not having a problem with your radar, being the first to make a move to get out of the way of a ship, not being the ship that tears into your hull, having more casualties, and overall having more problems in the accident.....yet being "officially" blamed for the accident. Makes me wonder how that other ship got away with it.
@taxid3rmy So being 20 miles north of the correct shipping lane in an effort to save time and having your radar on the wrong settings are not violations of maritime law? They wouldn’t have had to turn if the Stockholm had been where it was supposed to be.
@taxid3rmy It was Stockholm's fault to begin with. They weren't supposed to be there in the first place. If Stockholm stayed in theirs line, this situation probably wouldn't have happened.
I listened to the sinking live, sitting on the edge of my parent's bed, in 1956. I've been obsessed with the sinking and the wreck ever since. I've written a book for kids age 11-16 regarding the ship. Might get it published someday.
I read the story of the Andrea Doria about 60 years ago, in a Readers Digest Condensed book. The little girl that was found on the deck of the other ship was from Andrea Doria, and that fascinated me.
I saw Astoria (formerly Stockholm) in person during its voyage around the Baltic a few years ago. It was an eerie sight knowing the history surrounding it but it seems I was the only one who knew or cared.
I saw the Astoria in Cobh, Ireland in 2018. I didn’t know her history at the time, but I was curious about this vintage ship and went searching on Google.
Officers at Annapolis did a deep investigation of this accident. They sent a letter to the Andrea Doria Captain stating she was not at fault. The Captain, shattered by the sinking, died shortly after. He never opened the letter. Also, this ship was essentially T-boned by a ship prow built for ice breaking! She stayed afloat for 11 hours. That is a strong testament to just how well she was built. I haven't found another ship that took anything close to the damage that didn't sink almost immediately.
The Andrea Doria sinking is the main reason I won't go on a cruise ship. The Titanic seems almost like folklore to me. The Andrea Doria sinking was filmed and televised which makes it real and tangible.
@@catlovermarty exactly. You could never really picture yourself in a situation like that. A 500 something man made ton mass suddenly not working as intended, and starts to sink and tip over into the depths of the vast ocean, with so many souls still on board and everyone scrambling for salvation. It’s intense and horrifying. But you don’t want to take the risk of being in that actual situation. I understand that.
The Liners always look so graceful and beautiful when you compare them to modern cruise ships, the Andrea Doria was an exceptional example of the grace and beauty of the Liners.
0:05 I’ve bought that exact same book back in 2006. I took it with me everywhere much to the annoyance of my mother. I loved ships so much I made models out of cereal boxes & milk bottles. I even got a blue ribbon prize for one of them.
Jake, I’ve had a fascination into oceanliners since I was a little kid. I fell in love with the Titanic when my babysitter took me to see the movie when I was eight years old. You should do a video on the SS Edmund Fitzgerald which was a Great Lake freighter, it’s an interesting story. She was the Titanic of the Great Lakes and in 1975 she disappeared during a bad storm, no survivors. Keep up the good work buddy.
What is it about ships sinking on the captain's final run just before they were about to retire? I'd suggest captains retire one trip earlier than planned to avoid this eventuality.
I remember reading a book about the Andrea Doria's final cruise back in the 60s. One of the things that struck me is that one of the passengers on the Andrea Doria was asleep in her cabin. After the collision, she woke up on the Stockholm. She survived but was badly injured as I recall (lost a leg, I think). From the seamanship point of view though, the big, big story here was that the Andrea Doria capsized.. which is to say it rolled over, something it was never suppose to be able to do. But of course the Titantic was suppose to be unsinkable... see a theme here??
@@kaydenchan7093 then rowed away, refused over and over to go back, ran away when he got to land and tried to go into hiding. Yeah he was definitely forced to do that.
@@anthonyazore3139 yeah, but airplanes fly at different heights for that reason and I’m pretty sure there were other factors in that crash if it is the one I am thinking of 🤔.
I was born about a couple of months after this disaster happened. One of my parents wanted to name me after the ship. Thankfully, the other one nixed it. Can you imagine going through life named after a sunken ship?
You know, I was like why would they chuckle and not like gasp or something. Then, I search for like 10 minutes, find the price, and there I am chuckling.
As someone that went to a maritime academy and sailed commercially a few times. There was something that you glossed over that I think needed more emphasis: "Not following company protocol with filling empty fuel tanks with sea water as ballast" - 12:17 MARPOL and the USCG would have you with Prison time (life) and massive fines (Millions) if you did this. The fuel they use now (HFO/LSFO) is insanely bad for the environment as its solid at room temperature and its secondary use is for paving roads. Back then they used Bunker C which was even worse. Ballasting down out at sea and dumping on your way into port so you could ride high and fill up was a massive contributor to why ports were such bad pollutors back in the day. Oil in water today is an international crime against humanity (according to IMO and MarPol) as it should be. Given how people get locked away or multimillion dollar lawsuits for seemingly insignificant amounts slipping thru an OWS nowadays its crazy this was every common practice.
My cousin is named Andrea Doria, when my mom was pregnant with my older sister (her first) my grandmother said "I don't care what you name her, just PLEASE don't name her after a sunken ship"
As a few others have stated, my great-grandparents were also amongst the Andrea Doria during it's final voyage. I believe it was their first trip back to Italy since moving to Canada in the early 1900s. They were able to survive although my great-grandmother suffered a broken leg jumping into the life vessel. My mother who was a child at the time was supposed to be travelling with them. If she had went on the trip, who knows if I'd be here.
Thank you for making this video! My grandpa (nonno) was aboard the Andrea Doria when she sunk. Thankfully, he was one of the survivors. Sadly, he passed away ten years after she sank and I never was able to meet him. His wife, my nonna, passed away today and this has surprisingly given me some comfort to know more about my family’s past during this time of grief.
Maritime replicas made an absolutely stunning model of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Even with the 5% discount I could never dream of justifying to myself purchasing such a beautiful piece.
I was watching this video and my dad came in and was like “we had a relative on the Andrea Doria” apparently my Nonna was supposed to take a trans Atlantic journey from Italy to the USA but she left Italy early in 1955. However, her aunt, my great aunt, was actually on the ship when it sunk, she got injured by hurting her arm when it got caught in a door, but the ship shifter and freed her arm, she survived
@@DomMazz I was looking for the comment made by Kramer; the Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm in dense fog 12 miles off the coast in Nantucket. It's in my book, Astonishing tales of the sea. Lol
@@DomMazz Me too! I also wanna go into George detailing to the tenant association the horrifying story of his life as a short, stocky, slow-witted bald man, oh and also his fiancee died licking toxic envelopes that he picked out!
@@carlgustav945 Also, that Elaine loves Edmund Fitzgerald's voice and swears that the name of the doomed ship was the SS Gordon Lightfoot, which Jerry sarcastically tells her that it was wrecked by the "Cat Stevens"!
Ballard is a research professor at the University of Rhode Island. I always thought it was cool to walk by his research vessel or office and think... THIS man found the Titanic. That’s cool. Walking history.
My great-aunt and her first husband were actually booked to travel on the Andrea Doria during it's final voyage, but ended up arriving too late and had to book on another liner. Was always a bit surreal when she would mention that.
IMPORTANT. Most recent studies have exonerated the Italian crew and tend to blame the Swedish: it is now generally believed that the Stockholm's radar operator misread the signal and thought the two ships were much further one from another.
@Lurking Carrier it’s a little hard to feel bad for the Stockholm at that point. It’s like driving into oncoming traffic on the freeway and then being surprised when you hit somebody
Correct. Carstens-Johnsson (who was actually 3rd officer, not the 'radar operator') is believed to have misread the radar range while in charge of the bridge.
Dude this video is extremely well-done! I am a professional mariner and your graphic of the collision shows why YOU NEVER TURN TO PORT TO OPEN DISTANCE WITH A VESSEL WITHOUT RADIO COMMUNICATION!
My goodness, I salute you with your research on all these maritime disasters. They are reality that they are so scary. Lately, I’ve enjoyed my last cruise to the Mexican Riviera with Royal Carribean and wanted to cruise for the rest of my life and now I’m watching all these disasters. God help us all.
Jake, as someone who was obsessed with this stuff as a young child, you would not believe how many memories you’ve triggered from just that book. Had the same one! Love looking forward to your videos and when I saw the announcement for this one my eyes lit up just to watch! Keep up the amazing work!!
I was in third grade when this happened and years later studied the cause as part of my USCG license classes. Things go better when the players stick with the rules.
That's true. In this case, the Stockholm perceived a bow-to-bow collision course, while the Andrea Doria perceived a ship on a parallel but reciprocal course off their starboard bow. The Stockholm's maneuvering, though justified by the rules of the road, placed the two on a collision course, and Andrea Doria's maneuvering did nothing to alleviate that problem. Each ship maneuvered according to its perception of the situation: The Andrea Doria to port to increase the searoom between the two ships and the Stockholm to starboard to resolve the bow-to-bow collision risk. The Stockholm's initial course change was small, when the "Rules of the Road" call for all avoidance maneuvers to be unmistakably large. I don't know if either vessel had bridge-to-bridge radio fitted, but that would've helped if they did. The irony is, that based on their more or less parallel courses, had neither ship done anything, they'd likely have sailed past each other safely, if a bit close for comfort.
Every damn time. "This is one of the safest ships ever devised!" Meanwhile, Poseidon looks at the ship and just smiles. "We shall see mortal. We shall see."
I mean, that was true when they said that about the Titanic. NOTHING, not even a modern ship, could survive hitting an iceberg like that. The Andrea Doria was poorly designed from the start.
I was aboard the Doria in NY, seeing my grandparents, aunt, and uncle off for their trip to Italy. The booked the Doria for a round trip, but made a last minute change and took another liner back to NY. Why isn't it mentioned that the Stockholm, while owned by a Swedish company, was manufactured in Italy?
Actually she was made in Sweden, Gothenburg. A pride of Sweden. Yes, later on she was overhauled, refitted in italy's shipyard. Not sure what her registry perhaps the Athena.
"So the boat is just going across the atlantic? How could it have possibly gone so wrong" *Mentions second ship going in opposite direction* "Oh. Oh no."
I used to check that book out from the library when I was middle school aaallll the time!!! I loved the artists drawing they were so detailed and captivating
