On July 25, 1956, the Italian Line passenger liner Andrea Doria was approaching the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, bound for New York City, when she collided with the eastbound MS Stockholm of the Swedish American Line and sank. Now 60 years later, the Andrea Doria’s newly restored Lifeboat #1 will be launched from the waterfront at the SUNY Maritime College, tomorrow, Saturday, June 30th. The public is invited to attend and willing participants will be able to row the lifeboat out into Long Island Sound for a short excursion.
From the National Maritime Historical Society press release:
Mark Koch, a dive manager from the New Orleans area, acquired the Andrea Doria’s Lifeboat #1. The lifeboat was restored at Scarano Boatbuilding in Albany, where NMHS trustee Rick Scarano is president. The 28-foot boat looks great—it is shiny, bright white and totally renewed except for a few of its historic dents and mystifying bullet holes. All of its mechanical components have been reconditioned and the human-powered cranks that drive the big brass propeller operate perfectly.
Famed oceanliner expert and author Bill Miller, who has a book on Andrea Doria being released soon, will be among the interesting guest speakers. Listen to other historians, divers, ship and boat preservationists who will discuss the Andrea Doria, her collision at sea with the Stockholm and the significance of that collision to the merchant marine world. Discussions will focus on the repercussions of that accident, the evolution of lifeboat technology, and the effects of the sinking on the training of merchant mariners and on the evolution of SCUBA technology.
In addition, docents will lead tours of the Maritime Industry Museum at Fort Schuyler, which houses exhibits on the history of the United States maritime industry, including commercial shipping, the merchant marine, the port of New York, and history of Fort Schuyler.
Schedule:
10:00 am: Registration, Coffee, Tea and Muffins (in Maritime Academic Center)
10:30-11:30 am: Presentations
11:30 am: Launch the boat
12:15 pm: Lunch ($15 per person – CASH ONLY, please)
1:30 pm: Presentations in the Luce Library (in Fort Schuyler)
2:30-4:00 pm: Tour of the Maritime Industry Museum (in Fort Schuyler)
The public is invited to attend. Suggested Donation – $5 to $10.
RSVP: Sign up today, call us at 914-737-7878, ext. 0, or e-mail us at nmhs@seahistory.org
In the 1958 when studying for my Foreign-going Certificate of Competency at the School of Navigation, University of Southampton, England the compulsory Radar Course had been introduced. Our instructor had us study this incident as a “radar assisted collision”. After that one made sure to use the plotting sheets for contacts as in those days there was no automatic system to do so.
Good Watch.
I recently took the US Radar Observer course, and the collision was referenced in it, also.