Fifty years ago, today, the Andrea Doria sank to the bottom of the sea after a collision with another ship. Incredibly, though unable to lower lifeboats, only 46 people on the Andrea Doria died (43 of them instantly when the collision occured). In spite of the huge gash in it's side, the Andrea Doria stayed afloat for 11 hours after the collision.

The Italians were blamed for this disaster, but all evidence pointed to the fact that the Swedish run Stockholm was to blame. They had made a maneuver that turned them to a course where they rammed the Andrea Doria. Sadly, the captain of the Andrea Doria was hung out to dry and never commanded a ship again. Whereas the ones who had made the mistake on the Stockholm were promoted. The Swedish captain still vows he didn't make a mistake and when Calamai (Italian captain) died, his final words were 'are all the passengers safe.'

Be sure to check out the five page story for more information, but beware, when I went to read it there was a pizer sexual health video ad running, so turn off the volume. There is more information and there are other pictures of the Andrea Doria.