Famous Shipwrecks: Italian Liner Andrea Doria, 1956

While not the most famous passenger liner ever to sink, when the luxurious flagship of the Italian Line collided with the Swedish liner Stockholm in heavy fog off the coast of Massachusetts in July of 1956 and sank a few hours later, it came as quite a shock to the world. What made it such a surprise was not the scale of the catastrophe—only 46 of the 1660 people on board died as a result of the collision—but the fact that such a disaster was even possible in an age of radar and high tech ship-to-ship radio communications. It was also famous for being one of the few major ship sinking ever filmed while it was happening, giving the world a bird’s-eye view of the proud and beautiful ship’s final moments and forever cementing her in maritime legend. 

Eventually the fault for the collision was placed on both captains for not only plunging through the pea-thick soup at over twenty knots, but for managing to completely misinterpret what their counterpart was doing. It might have even been funny had not it ended in the loss of life and the sinking of one of the most expensive ships ever built. Today the Andrea Doria remains one of the world’s most popular diving sites (it’s even referred to as the “Mount Everest” of deep-sea diving), though because of its depth and the rapidly deteriorating condition of the wreck, it remains a treacherous site to dive on—as evidenced by the fact that it has claimed the lives of half a dozen divers over the years.

Read More