How many died andrea doria

More than 1, others were rescued as the ship took 11 hours to sink. The wreck, in about feet of water 50 miles south of Nantucket, has for years attracted treasure-hunting divers looking for money, china and other artifacts from a bygone era. But 16 of those divers have died, the most recent just last year. The wreck has been compared to Mount Everest , because as alluring and dangerous as the world's tallest peak is to mountaineers, the Andrea Doria is to divers. Visibility at that depth is poor, currents are unpredictable and plenty of protrusions can snag a diver, he said.

Andrea Doria, Italian cruise ship, sank about 50 miles off the cost of Nantucket in Combination photos of the Andrea Doria sinking. The captain and remaining crewmen head for rescue ship in lifeboats after the Andrea Doria sank.

Captain Calami then exacerbated a dangerous situation by making a turn to port for an unconventional starboard-to-starboard passing, which he wrongly thought the other ship was attempting.

Third Officer Johan-Ernst Bogislaus Carstens, commanding the bridge of the Stockholm, then made a conventional turn to starboard. Less than a mile away, Captain Calami realized he was on a collision course with the Stockholm and turned hard to the left, hoping to race past the bow of the Swedish ship. Both ships were too large and moving too fast to make a quick turn. Five crewmen of the Stockholm were killed in the collision.

On the Andrea Doria, the carnage was much worse. The bow of the Swedish ship crashed through passenger cabins, and 46 passengers and crew were killed. One man watched as his wife was dragged away forever by the retreating bow of the Stockholm.

With seven of its 10 decks open to the Atlantic waters, the Andrea Doria listed more than 20 degrees to port in minutes, and its watertight compartments were compromised.

A lifeboat evacuation began on the doomed ship. The evacuation initially went far from smoothly. The port side could not be used because the ship was listing too much, which left 1, lifeboat seats for the 1, on board. Passengers in the lower cabins fought their way through darkened hallways filling up with ocean water and leaking oil. The first lifeboat was not deployed until an hour after the collision, and it held more crew than passengers. Fortunately, the Stockholm, which had suffered a nonfatal blow, was able to lend its lifeboats to the evacuation effort.

At a. While the mangled Stockholm began rescuing passengers from the Doria, several other vessels answered its distress calls and raced to the scene. The first, a small freighter called the Cape Ann, arrived around a. Two American Navy ships followed shortly thereafter, but lifeboats remained scarce. Finally, around 2 a.

Though help had arrived, the situation aboard the Doria remained perilous. Debris from the collision had trapped some of the passengers in their cabins, and many on the lower levels had to brave smoke-filled hallways and knee-deep water on their way to the main deck.

Those who gathered by the useless portside lifeboats faced their own set of problems. With the Doria listing to its right, its main deck had turned into a steep, slippery slope. To reach the starboard side lifeboats, many had to lie on their backs and slide down the deck, making sure to stop before they careened off the edge and into the water. All the while, the ship continued to roll, threatening to capsize at any moment.

The rescue—one of the largest in maritime history—lasted several hours, but by a. Captain Calamai seemed ready to go down with his ship, but reluctantly boarded the last lifeboat after his crew refused to leave him behind. A few hours later, as the rescue fleet steamed toward New York harbor, Andrea Doria finally capsized and flooded.

At a.