Stockholm
The Stockholm left the collision scene after the Andrea Doria sank and due to the massive amount of damage headed to New York at reduced speed. It was Thursday afternoon when another life was claimed. Carl Watres, 55 years old, survived the collision and rescue but died of a heart attack while returning on the Stockholm. It was Friday morning as the Stockholm approached New York City.
A Coast Guard cutter led the way up the harbor and where the day before there were cheers and whistles for the heroic rescue ship, Ile de France, there was grim silence.
Sailing into the harbor, the Stockholm passed the Brooklyn Army Base pier at 58th Street and 1st Ave in Brooklyn. The Pvt. William H. Thomas docked there the day before with survivors from the Andrea Doria. Ernest Melby, a crewman, watched the Stockholm pass and he was able to take a few photographs of the crippled ship without her bow.
Finally approaching the Hudson River and the piers, the Stockholm passed the Statue of Liberty, where she passed the day before, on her way to Sweden.
As the Stockholm approached her berth at Pier 97 at the foot of W. 57th Street, two Moran tugs took charge of her as they would an injured lady and nudged her to her dock.
It was silent there too, except for the first terrifying gasp when the crowd of 200 Red Cross workers, longshoreman and city officials first witnessed the horror of the smashed bow. It was an unbelievable sight. Thirty to fifty feet of the bow had been broken off or punched into a junk pile. There were torn duffel bags, smashed furniture and faded flowers, all silent souvenirs of the tragedy that had occurred the day before.
It was Friday morning and the Stockholm was now berthed at Pier 97 and it was the last chance for relatives and survivors to be reunited. It was on here that actress Ruth Roman stood with tears streaming down her face. She prayed that her missing 3 year old son, Dickie, was unhurt.
Then suddenly, a child's voice cried out, "Mommy!" It was Dickie. Miss Roman burst into great tears of joy and muttered, "Everything's alright now. Its all right."
Shortly after noon, the first passengers started to disembark. Stockholm passengers greeted their friends and relatives on the pier and the Andrea Doria survivors were taken by bus to the Italian Line Pier 84 at W 44th St. where they were reunited with relatives. It was here, that for some, the grim reality was that their missing loved ones were never going to arrive.
The scene was chaotic at Pier 84, to which the uninjured survivors were taken. There was hysterical sobbing and emotional embraces.
Ciro Minicucci was so worn out waiting nearly 23 hours for word of his brother Armadio that he was mistaken for a survivor. After hearing of the disaster, Ciro traveled from Ohio to New York to find his brother. He arrived at 3 p.m. on Thursday and went from pier to pier as notices came in of rescue ship arrivals and had no time to eat or sleep. On Friday he was waiting for the survivors that were on the Stockholm and he was heartsick at the thought that his brother was among the "85 people" rumored to be missing. A Salvation Army worker asked him if he was a survivor of the Andrea Doria and then quickly reunited him with his brother who was wearing a sweater given to him by a sailor on the Stockholm. His shirt and coat had been lost.
Samuel Iazzatta reported that his mother, Amelia,
and her sister Mrs. Christina Covino, were missing. They were traveling with his
father, Benvenuto. After the crash Benvenuto was not able to open the door to
the cabin where his wife and sister-in-law were berthed. A crewman ushered him
to the upper decks and he never saw them again. Their names were not listed in
the rolls of those rescued.
Also waiting in tears was Sylvia Urbanate. Her sister and brother-in law,
Antoinette and Joseph Guzzi were not on the Stockholm and no other rescue
ship had brought them in.
The Stockholm also brought back the bodies of Carl Watres and Karl Osterberg. Carl Watres survived the collision but later died of a heart attack on the Stockholm. Karl Osterberg was a Stockholm mess boy whose skull was crushed in his cabin located in the bow of the ship.
Among the injured was Linda Morgan, the girl that was flung from her bed onto the bow of the Stockholm when her cabin was penetrated. Initial reports had listed her as dead.
With injuries to her left knee and shoulder Linda recalls, "I don't know what happened. I was thrown out of my cabin, I think, on a pile of stuff. A Spanish man helped me. I don't remember what else happened." Linda was then taken to St Vincent's Hospital.
Among the survivor's were a large number of Andrea Doria's crew. A crew that consisted of staff that catered to the passengers in their floating hotel. Waiters, bus boys, cooks, dishwashers, cabin boys, etc.... They were now without money and a place to stay. Many of them were poorly dressed and barefoot as they lined up on the pier to receive $75.00 in emergency funds.
The crew was sent to hotels until arrangements could be made to get them home.
While there were tears of joy for most of the families, there were also tears of sorrow for others. The Coast Guard labored to determine the exact number of persons missing, at that moment it could not account for at least 26 people. The figures tallied by the Coast Guard, NY Police and the Italian Line didn't match. The NY Police also reported 40-50 people missing. As the reports were compared, the number missing was closer to 36. The known dead and those in hospitals were about 60. The count of those missing would eventually be higher.