Andrea Doria - Newsletter Vol 2 Issue 1

The History Channel will air a new program about the Andrea Doria that was filmed this summer. It features diving footage, survivor interviews, and some home movie footage taken on an earlier voyage. The program is scheduled for December 9th, 2003 at 8pm ET. Check your local listings.

Marco Fornier wrote to correct the name of the Italian newspaper I mentioned in the last newsletter. It is called "Il Secolo XIX" The section of the newspaper is called "Spettcoli" Thank you Marco for the correction.

Francesco Fratto's grandfather, Giovanni, was a cabin class passenger. He jumped off the ship and was swimming around until he was picked up. He passed away in 1987.
Talk about a small world, Francesco's brother, Rosario, owns Giovanni's Bake Shop in Monroe, NY. The bakery is where I go to get cookies and cakes, just 5 minutes away from me.

Dear Mr Grillo,
I just found your site about the Andrea Doria shipwreck. My name is Marco Pensante and I am the grandson of one of the crew members listed under the page "Crew, N-Z". My grandfather was Tito Pensante (not Penzante, please correct the misspelling, I know no one will notice but it's important to me). My grandfather, who died in 1985 aged 87, was one of many hired hands, a nameless, faceless worker who handled menial tasks in the engine room. His qualification, "Ingrassatore", could be loosely translated as "grease-monkey" (maybe a sailor would know a more exact term, but unfortunately I am not one). But he was 58 years old when the Andrea Doria sank, and he was close to retirement. He had been working as a hired hand (more or less always in the engine rooms) on hundreds of liners since 1910, when he was a kid and decided to look for any kind of post on the first ship leaving, only so he could leave his dreadful hometown of Nicotera, in the Italian region of Calabria, to escape his awful life as an ice-carrying boy. He survived the Andrea Doria shipwreck (in addition to two world wars) and used to tell me stories of his life as a sailor when I was a kid, in the 1970s. Including the stabbings because of people cheating at card games like zecchinetta or tressette, including the fights in American ports with people who called him "paisano" and spat in his face. Sometimes he'd punch someone's face in, sometimes he'd get his face punched in. He survived. He was 5 feet tall and tough as nails, with a nose bigger than his face. When I knew him as my grandfather, when he was in his 70s, his only interest in life were watermelons. He'd scour the markets all day to find a good, fresh, sweet watermelon, then eat it on the balcony of his home in front of Lake Garda while teaching me the art of playing cards. (I was 12 years old and his favorite grandson, and I suppose he cared a lot for me after the death of his wife.) There is nothing glamorous or even sentimental about my grandfather's life, surely nothing that would be worth mentioning on a public occasion. He was a worker, he lived through some rough times and had to adapt, very likely through less than heroic means. He had a wife (my grandmother) and two children (my father and my aunt) and had to support them. They were at home in Ursinins Piccolo (Buia, Italy), he was at sea. They did what they could to survive and waited for him to come home, hoping he'd bring some real sugar from rich countries like Argentina or America where there actually was sugar. He sent them money to live through World War II and immediately after, when Italy was in ruins.
My apologies if I'm being long-winded, Mr Grillo. I am just writing this letter as a tribute to my grandfather, who sailed for almost 50 years and retired shortly after surviving the Andrea Doria, then wanted to hear nothing more of it except to tell me the story because he knew I'd listen. One final note. About the Doria shipwreck, my grandfather told me something that changed my life, for better or for worse. He said that when he was in the freezing water, when there was no way he could know rescuers would pick him up so he was sure he'd die any moment, well, right then he never once thought of calling to God. "I never once called God", he told me. "I called my mother. God never did anything for me, only my mother did everything to make me well. I didn't care for seeing God after I died, I wanted to see my mother." If anybody religious gets offended, my apologies. I stand by these words.
"Ciao, Tito. Se mai ci rivedremo, riprendiamo quella scopa lasciata a metà. Lo so che mi hai lasciato il settebello per farmi vincere."
Best regards.
Marco Pensante

(Editor's Note: Thank you Marco for sharing the information. My maternal grand-father used to play the card game ,scopa, with me as well. As you tell him, in Italian, in your last sentence, I hope you get to finish that game with him someday.)

Would you know where I could get a passenger list from the Andrea Doria for the fall of 1955, I was a passenger on that ship from Genoa to N.Y. My name is Romano Ferrari I was 10 years old. Thank you

My name is Paul Cain and I live in Bloomington, Indiana. I'm from Texas originally and at age 19 (September of 1956) returned for my sophomore year at what then was East Texas State Teachers College in Commerce, Texas (it is now Texas A & M University - East Texas). That year I met another young man at school, perhaps a few years older than myself, who was starting school in Commerce who had just survived the Andrea Doria sinking.
We had several classes together and I got to know him and learned of his recent rescue. I believe he was from Eastern Europe and planned to become a US citizen. Over these many years (I'm 66 years old now) his name faded from my memory but I clearly recall his energetic and outgoing personality and how much I enjoyed his company. I'm sure he had to be the only survivor who made his way to this small Texas College. If there is any way to post this message, I would be thrilled
to hear from him. I'm a retired professor from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. I moved to Bloomington 9 years ago
to live near Indiana University where I did my graduate studies back in the early 1960's.
I know all your fellow survivors and families appreciate your considerable efforts with this web site.
Sincerely, Paul J. Cain paul.cain@insightbb.com

Your submissions, letters, and comments are welcome. Send them to: fotad@andreadoria.org

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