The story of the Andrea Doria is well-known, and I won't go into too many details. 54 years ago today the ocean liners Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided in a heavy fog off Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Andrea Doria sank after several hours, in one of the first shipwrecks to be covered live by the media. Her wreck is slowly collapsing to the seabed.
As the ship that was lost, the Andrea Doria gets all the publicity. But what happened to the Stockholm?
The Stockholm, after the collision
She's still out there, plying her trade as an ocean liner.
After being repaired she returned to work. She's since been sold multiple times, operating for several lines under many names, including Volkerfeundschat, Volker, Fridtjof Nanen, Italia I, Italia Prima, Valtur Prima, Caribe, and (currently) Athena.
In addition to her career as a cruise ship, she's also been used as barracks ship in Oslo.
In 1989, 33 years after the collision, she was taken to Genoa, Italy, which was the Andrea Doria's home port. She underwent an extensive reconstruction there, and subsequently served the Caribbean-Italy route for a time. She had another large series of modifications in 1994.
More recently, while on a cruise to Australia in December, 2008, she was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and successfully fought off her assailants with water cannons.
And she continues in service today, with her remarkable past unknown to the many who now vacation on her. Her current website (perhaps understandably) doesn't even mention it.
12 comments:
More cool naval history. But shipwrecks on cruises? Maybe you need more happy juice.
That is fascinating stuff, Dr. G
Thanks.
(see, I don't just love you for the funny bits)....
Grumpy, It's nice to read about our backyard from a writer as amusing as you. A few questions if you'll indulge us? What color is your ship's hull? Does it end in a word the kids cannot stop repeating? Do you know the stories of the Princess Kathleen and Princess Sophia?
Does this cruise have a talent show? I think you may have the material for another stand-up comedy routine.
The Stockholm must hold some kind of longevity record for liners, wow.
Anon:
1. White.
2. Both.
Dr. Grumpy,
Since you're so fond of nautical stories, especially shipwrecks, I'm going to provide links to a couple of posts I wrote earlier this year about the President's Desk. If you've seen the story, it probably won't have any new information for you, but it's a new story for a lot of people.
Part One: http://www.mellophant.com/forums/showpost.php?p=155514&postcount=9
Part Two: http://www.mellophant.com/forums/showpost.php?p=155546&postcount=10
I hope you may enjoy them.
-Mike
Mike- I knew that, but thank you for posting. It's a good story.
I'm hoping they find Erebus & Terror in my lifetime.
SS MEREDITH VICTORY now that is a ship story. Sorry to do this to you Doc. But everytime someone starts with a maritime story, I tell them to learn the story of Brother Marinus. The atheist hate me for it.
Wouldn't it be so nice to just erase your sordid past by simply changing your name 8 times?
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/russians-find-traces-of-ill-fated-1912-arctic-expedition/19590009?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fworld%2Farticle%2Frussians-find-traces-of-ill-fated-1912-arctic-expedition%2F19590009
Saw this on MSN and thought you might find it interesting.
That is cool. Thank you.
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