The SS Andrea Doaria. Oppulent ocean liner for the Società di navigazione Italia. With a gross tonnage of 29,100 tons and a capacity of over 1200 passenger and a crew of 500.
Like the Titanic, the Andrea Doria was Italy's largest, fastest, and safest ship. Well apparently not that safe.
It was July 25th, 1956, while sailing off the coast of Nantucket, bound for New York city. It was 11:10pm that evening, the final night of the voyage that disaster struck.
In heavy fog, the Swedish ship Stockholm struck the Andrea Doria. With a deep gash on it's starboard side, the Andrea Doria listed and started taking on water. What made the disaster different from the Titanic was the quick response of rescue teams. Also the ship stayed afloat for over 10 hours before finally sinking in the cold waters of the Atlantic. Only 40 people perished in this disaster as opposed to over a thousand from the Titanic.
Earlier that evening, there was one last dinner. A farewell dinner for the passengers. It was quite a feast.
Their last meal was:
Cocktails: Tomato juice or Grapefruit juice
Parma raw ham
Nantes sardines
Lingurienne olives
Butter
Salad Italienne
Clear beef broth in cup, hot or cold
Rice, squash and parsley
Consome with vermicellini, Andalouse
Gray snapper fillets, Belle Meuniere
Parsleyed potatoes
Roast Forli poulardine on a skewer
Mixed salad – French dressing
Tortoni ice cream cup
Saiwa biscuits
Basket of fresh fruit
Italian and American coffee – Tea
Gran Italian sparkling wine
Red table wine
1 comment:
One of the greatest disasters of the Andrea Doria is that survivor who muscled George Castanza out of that apt. Every time I hear about that ship now, all I can think of is Seinfeld.
Great blog!
Post a Comment