Ile de France
It was nearly 4:30 am and the ten Ile de
France lifeboats made nearly four trips each to the Andrea Doria. The
last of the survivors were on board and after Captain Calamai released the Ile
de France from its rescue operation duties, the lifeboats were recalled and
hoisted back into their davits. The survivors began to settle in in the lounges
and deck chairs of the Ile de France and began to absorb the details of their
ordeal.
It was a ragtag group of people, some barely dressed and accepting any clothing they could get from the crew and passengers of the French Liner. Injuries were treated and a team of ship's doctors, one American doctor and the doctor from the Andrea Doria performed operations on the injured, setting fractures and the like.
The Ile de France crew began collecting information from the survivors so that loved ones could be reunited and information sent to New York to locate family members that were separated.
One of the many families that were separated was
Angela Grillo and her 3 year old son Anthony. They were separated when Anthony
was dropped into a lifeboat. Angela followed him down on a rope but by the time
she reached the lifeboat the one carrying her son had moved on. She found
herself in another lifeboat not knowing the whereabouts of her son. How could
she go home without him. Once she arrived on the Ile de France she began
her frantic search for her son. With the help of a young Italian man she located
Anthony after two hours of searching. Anthony was sitting on one of the deck
chairs eating an orange and enjoying this "new game".
For others it was not quite as happy, many could not find their loved ones and
it would be hours before they received word that they were safe on another ship.
For a few they would receive no word on their loved ones.
For Paul and Maria Sergio it was an agonizing trip to New York. They received no word about Paul's sister-in-law and her four children.
It had been only a few hours ago the Paul's four year old nephew, Rocco, had asked him if he could sleep in his cabin. Uncle Paul told Rocco to go to sleep with his brother, two sisters and mother and he would see him in the morning for the arrival in New York. It was the last time Paul would see his brother's family. The collision struck their cabin on C Deck. They were gone.
