Music by Ritchie Blackmore

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The Andrea Doria and the M.S. Stockholm

There was heavy fog on the North Atlantic on the evening of the 25th of July 1956. 

And the pride of the Italian Line, the 29,000 ton Andrea Doria was heading Westbound for New York, on her last night at sea. 

At the same time, the 12,000 ton Stockholm, Swedish Amerika line was heading Eastbound, having left New York harbor earlier at about the same time as the French liner the Ile de France, a ship that would later play a major role in the tragedy.

Both ships were monitoring their radars and following the applicable rules of the road.

All guidance necessary to avoid a collision was available for the situation that was about to unfold. 

The Andrea Doria was steaming in fog on track to pass the Nantucket lightship and shaped her course for New York. 

The lightship reported visibility at 50 yards. The Andrea Doria only reduced her speed from 23 knots to 21 knots.

Captain Calamai was on the bridge. The radar was being observed. Shortly after passing the Nantucket lightship, an echo sounded that proved to be the Stockholm on a head on situation. 

From his visual observation of the radar scope, Captain Calamai determined that an apparent starboard to starboard passing was developing. 

He adjusted course a few degrees to port to open up the distance.

On the bridge of the Stockholm, 3rd Mate Carstens-Johannsen detected the echo of the Andrea Doria. He determined a running fix on his plotter that a port to port passing was developing. He turned the Stockholm 4 degrees to starboard and from the upcoming radar beeps, he felt assured there was no need to summon Captain Nordenson to the bridge. 

He had the situation under control. 

Both ships were sounding fog horns in the thick fog with lookouts on their watch. 

Each bridge was developing opposing strategy for passing on radar readings. Suddenly, each bridge viewed masthead lights and running lights.

The Stockholm turned hard to starboard. Captain Calamai ordered, "Full Left Rudder with no decrease in speed."

He would attempt to outrun the oncoming Stockholm.

The rest is history.

46 passengers were killed on the Andrea Doria and 6 crew members died on the Stockholm. 

The immediate distress signals were sent out. 

"SOS. Need immediate assistance." SOS at 0320GMT at the position of Lat 40-30N/69-53W." 

The radioman on the Ile de France also received the distress signal call and relayed it to Captain Rauol de Beaudean and the captain turned the Ile de France aroundand headed toward the disaster on a rescue mission. 

With in minutes of the collision, the Andrea Doria had listed 25 degrees to starboard. The list rendered the portside life boats unusable with over 1,600 passengers and crew to evacuate, creating a huge problem. 

And the engine room crew were working frantically to control the flooding and maintain power but the flooding proved too much. 

They were losing the battle. 

The abandon ship order was given. 

On board the Stockholm, Captain Nordersen was assured of his ship's stability. He lowered his own lifeboats to the rescue and took on passengers from the Andrea Doria to the Stockholm's lifeboats. 

Several other ships had arrived to join in the rescue. The Ile de France received the most passengers and crew--750. 

The Stockholm was badly damaged at her bow. Her two anchors had deployed to the ocean floor. 

The Stockholm took the initial passengers on board--542 safely aboard. 

In all, 1,660 passengers and crew had been rescued from the Andrea Doria as new day was dawning. 

Hamburg Amerika Line H.A.P.A.G.

 
In May 1939, the German liner M.S. ST LOUIS sailed from Hamburg with 937 Jewish refugees, fleeing Nazi Persecution. Their destination--Havana, Cuba.  

Upon arriving in Havana, the Cuban Government rejected their visas, 

refusing them entry.

The ship was ordered to leave port.

Captain Gustav Schroder headed for the eastern coast of the United States. 

Yet here, they were also denied entry at any US port.  

With no other options available, the ship was forced to return back to Europe. 

This would prove to be a death sentence for many of these refugees who would eventually end up in the Nazi concentration camps.

This became known as The Voyage Of The Damned.

Story by Ian O. Robertson

It was a sunny Sunday morning, the 15th of June, 1904.

The Slocum was chartered for the day by the St. Mark's Lutheran Church for 350 dollars and loading the passengers, mainly European settlers, for what was to be a fun-filled day and picnic at Eaton's Neck, Long Island.

Over 1,400 men, women and children had boarded at the Lower Eastside Pier. 

The ship got underway at 9:30am and headed northbound on the East River towards Long Island.

At 10:00am, as it was passing East 96th Street at Hell's gate, a fire broke out 

in the lamp room on the forward part of the ship, possibly caused by a discarded cigarette or match, fueled by oil, rags, straw, paint and other flammable liquids.

Captain Van Schaick was not notified until 10 minutes after the fire started. 

The ship's crew had never had a fire drill. 

This was a disaster waiting to happen.

The Captain decided to stay on course, while trying to extinguish the fire, 

but the head winds only fanned the flames.

The ship turned into a raging inferno.