The Mystery of Andrea Doria

Abstract

It seems likely that the S.S. Andrea Doria of Genoa still lies on the shelf south of Nantucket Island's shoals, resting on her damaged starboard side with her port side only 23 fm. deep under position 40°29′.4 North, 69°50′.5 West; and that 2 miles to the north-west are to be found some-how fixed on the same bottom the two 700 ft bower chains, their windlass, and a large piece of the crushed bows, all detached from the M.S. Stockholm—but not her anchors. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Evergreen reported from the scene at the time the sinking of Doria as of 261409Z on the calm summer mid-morning of Thursday, 26 July 1956, New York civil time. A few minutes thereafter Stockholm, having after hours of effort finally cut her bower chains, left the empty scene at low speed and with escort bound for drydock in Brooklyn, her anchors firmly formed into the remains of her bows. Although full power was available and used, she had not been able to move from this unconventional but all too effective anchorage since about 11:09 by her bridge clock the night before when she had come from 18 kt. to a dead stop in something like 2 sec. of time. During the pleasantly warm and moonlit night, of the more than 2000 persons on the scene only a few, mainly those who had actually seen the event with their own eyes and lived on, knew that two ships had been in collision. No one in either ship had expected anything uncommon, at most a routine passing clear of another and unknown ship, until the last minute, and even then only two or three believed collision could, let alone had, come to pass.