Description
By Pierette Domenica Simpson
The catastrophic ramming fifty years ago on July 25, 1956, of the Swedish liner Stockholm into Andrea Doria, Italy’s crown jewel, sent shock waves around the world. The author is a survivor and the first to publish a first-hand account of a calamity that could become another Titanic. As an eyewitness, Simpson presents gripping vignettes retold by wealthy passengers, poor immigrants, members of the clergy and ship’s crew. They describe their despair and elation after staring at their own reflections in the black ocean that night and seeing death stare back. By happenstance, the interviews, documents and memoirs used to collect tales of survival also to resuscitate the cold case that surrounded the tragedy. Using scientific data the book boldly confronts the controversies surrounding the collision. Photographs, diagrams and charts reconstruct a story that has always been available but has never before been published. This book details with irrefutable scientific evidence what caused the tragedy, challenging all previous theories. This thrilling tale of survival and intrigue follows the unjust fate of Captain Calamai so that we realize how the twisted bow of the damaged Stockholm symbolizes the twist of fate that befell Calamai and sets the historical record straight at last. 312 pages. Softcover. Dozens of black and white illustrations and diagrams.