At long last a passenger called to the passengers from the stem of the ship: "Lifeboats are arriving, don't you want to get off? Follow me!" They had been completely unaware of any ship arrival because the heavy fog had muffled any noise and it was impossible to see the starboard side from the port location. Passengers got to their feet and struggled up the deck to reach the rail. Grasping it tightly, and helping each other, they slowly made their way along the side of ship and finally emerged from behind the bulkhead. Moving tortuously, They continued around the stern of the ship and negotiated the steeply tipped deck to the lower side. To let go of the handrail for even an instant would have meant serious injury in a fall down the acutely slanting deck now crowded with wreckage of maritime gear broken loose. Several elderly passengers, fearful they would lose their grip on the rail and tumble down the deck, froze and had to be helped on.
As they moved out into the clear they were greeted by a picture they will never forget. They were part of a tableau that, even then, seemed staged and unreal. Through the mist across a gently rolling stretch of water was a great ocean liner, its every cabin alight and looking for all the world like an island city rising out of the fog. Atop the floating city, a sign in electric bulbs spelled out Ile de France in 10-foot-high letters. Playing down upon the intervening space between the two vessels, powerful searchlights illuminated the scene. French Line lifeboats rose with the crests of waves and disappeared in the troughs as they ferried passengers away from the sinking boat. Small boats from the Cape Ann, the Thomas and other ships approached points along the Andrea Doria's decks, which were, sinking toward the waves.
Glancing back over their shoulders at the steeply slanted deck, they could look into the empty swimming pool and the black void of the ship's funnel. They realized then that the ship was doomed. The long, snake-like line inched forward to a spot where a section of deck rail had been removed and a rope ladder hung over the water.
Louise and David Hollyer reached the front of the line. Their group had been amazingly calm, but at this point a man far down the line behind them was overcome with panic. He ran past them, knocking David down, leaped overboard and swam to the boat that had been pulling away with its load of passengers.
By 2:00 am Cape Ann's lifeboat number 2 returned with 40 survivors, after they were discharged it left for another load. There were many injured persons with broken bones and an urgent call was broadcast for medical assistance. Fortunately two doctors were among the survivors and all the hospital supplies and surgical instruments were turned over to them.
2:25 am Stockholm?: THE ANDREA DORIA HAS BEGUN TO ABANDON SHIP.
From the deck of the Cape Ann Captain Boyd could hear yells and screams and all he could do was pray. Through his binoculars he saw an infant in a blanket lowered into one of his boats and then he saw the baby's mother leap off the deck and fall 35 feet into the lifeboat. The woman suffered compound fractures of one leg and simple fractures of the other. The bones were jutting up through the flesh of the badly broken leg. She was taken to the Ile de France.
Lena Scianimanico staggered into the passageway and made her way to an upper deck. "I met one of the wonderful crewman who tied a life jacket around me and told me to stand at the railing until the order was given to jump". When the order came to abandon ship, she slid down a rope. Her hands were burned, almost to the bone, but she clung to the rope and dangled above the water, for perhaps a minute until a lifeboat slid along side and she dropped in. "I never said so many prayers in so short a time", she said.
Soon another lifeboat from the Stockholm arrived near the ship, and it was David and Louise Hoyller's turn to leave. David raised his hand to signal it to come closer, but the young Swedish sailor in charge cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted: "You'll have to come to us. Your ship is going to turn over!" That got them moving, they scrambled down the ladder and dropped into the oily water, It was surprisingly warm and calm, and their buoyant life jackets kept them afloat. The swim to the lifeboat was probably only about 100 yards or so, but with the passage of time that distance tends to lengthen so that it may eventually become a mile.
Getting into the lifeboat was a struggle. Louise Hollyer could not reach the loops of a rope strung from the gunwale about three feet above the water. Weighted down as she was by David's suit and her lifejacket and slick with oil, she was difficult to lift from the water. Finally, with a prodigious effort, the two Swedish sailors manning the boat reached over the rail as far as they could and grasping Louise's wrists, pulled and dragged her along the side of the boat and over the top until she landed in a heap in the bilge in the bottom. One of the sailors looked down on her there and must have felt he had to do something. He knelt beside her and said, "Madam, would you like an orange?" And that is what he handed her, an orange! They had no motor in the lifeboat, no lights and no water but they had oranges.
Kenneth Merlin and his wife were four cabins away from the collision point and part of the ceiling came down on them, shaken but unhurt they headed to the deck. His wife left the ship at about 1:30am and arrived at the Stockholm. Kenneth left at about 4:15am. and arrived at the Ile de France, they would not see each other again until they arrived in New York.
When it was time for Ruth Roman and her son to reach the lifeboats the ship was severely listing. It was so bad Ruth had to place her son on her lap and slide down the deck. Her dressed ripped as she slid down to the rail. It was about 2 am when Ruth Roman and her son were being placed in a lifeboat. A young sailor carried him down to the lifeboat on his back and passed Richard to Mrs. Isa Santana while Ruth Roman followed down the ladder. Isa begged the crewman to wait for the Richard's mother. When Ruth was about halfway down there was a shout from the lifeboat, "Enough, enough" and the lifeboat pulled away. Stranded on the ladder and separated from her son, she waited until another lifeboat picked her up and took her to the Ile de France. She had no idea where her son was but she believed he was safe with Isa.
This drama was played out over and over during the rescue, families separated and children lost and alone.
Mrs. Angela Grillo was instructed to drop her son Anthony into a
waiting lifeboat. The crewman had blankets stretched out like safety nets. When Anthony
bounced in the blanket he hit the side of his head and let out a scream. His mother
hearing the scream, bounded over the side and began her descent to reach him. Anthony's
lifeboat moved on and his mother slid down a rope to another lifeboat. She hit the lifeboat hard
and passed out.
The Belt family were ready to climb down a rope ladder to a waiting lifeboat. Keeping their daughters between them for safety, Mrs. Belt climbed over the rail and began her descent. Before her daughter Judith could follow, a young man pushed her out of line and had his mother climb down the ladder. She looked down and quickly froze, blocking the ladder down to the lifeboat. When a lifeboat arrived at another ladder, Mr. Belt quickly moved his daughters to the other line and they descended to the lifeboat. They were brought to the Ile de France, meanwhile Mrs. Belt Went to the Cape Ann.
Mr. & Mrs. Giuseppe Rizzi were injured in the crash and were sent to the Ile de France and separated from their three children. Two of the children were placed in a lifeboat and went to the Cape Ann. The
Leonardo Paladino gathered his wife and three daughters about him on the sloping deck. His four year old daughter Maria was placed in one lifeboat. His other two daughters, Felica and Antoinette, in a second life boat and he and his wife in a third. Alone and afraid Maria clung to a 17 year old boy, Antonio Regina. Antonio did not know Maria's last name for he was only slightly acquainted with the family during the voyage. When the Paladino's arrived at the Ile de France they were unable to locate Maria. Unknown to them, Maria's lifeboat took her to the Cape Ann.
Amadio Minicucci watched as women jumped into the water while busy lifeboat crews rescued other women that were in the water. Amadio scrambled down a rope and waited at the rope's end for a lifeboat to pick him up and take him to the Stockholm.
Giuseppe and Bruna Porporino were 2 and 1 years old. The crew tied them with a rope and lowered them to a waiting lifeboat, quickly their mother and father followed and they were taken to the Stockholm.
A Cape Ann lifeboat is alongside and it is time for the Moscatiello family to reach the lifeboat. There are only two seats left and Angela forces her sons to go. She would wait for the next lifeboat. When the lifeboat reaches the Cape Ann the survivors need to climb up a rope to board the ship. Michael is weak and in the attempt to climb on board he dangles from the rope. He tells his brother to let him die. Michael loses his grip and plunges into the ocean and loses consciousness, a crew member, possibly saloon mess man H. Allen, from the Cape Ann jumps in the ocean and rescues him. On deck Michael wakes up and sees his brother crying for the first time in his life. The whereabouts of their mother is unknown and they wander the ship asking if anyone has seen her.
John Castagna was in a life jacket and waiting with the others to get into a boat. Everyone was slipping and sliding as the Andrea Doria listed. He looked over the side and saw it was a long way down, then he jumped. He hit the water with a smack and sank deep. When he reached the surface a little boy grabbed him around the neck, during the struggle to adjust his life vest the little boy lost his grip. John hoped the boy was picked up by a life boat.
John D'Elia his wife, Anna, and their boys, Vincent, Anthony and Rocco waited on deck while a crewman told everyone to be calm and stay in one spot. But those who couldn't find husbands, wives and children kept running around. Finally they were told the life boat sailors below wanted them to jump. The three boys went first and Anna was afraid to jump and Giovanni pushed her off. Giovanni leapt over the side of the ship and they were all picked up and taken to the Ile de France.
Julianne McLean boarded a lifeboat and looked up, the Andrea Doria's funnel was directly overhead as if it were going to come down and crush the lifeboat. The lifeboat made its way to the Ile de France and the survivors had to climb a long ladder to reach the upper deck.
Peter Thieriot was unable to find his parents and he boarded a lifeboat that was headed to the Ile de France. As his lifeboat pulled away from the Andrea Doria (with very few passengers on it - He had a whole row to himself), He was able to look at the Andrea Doria from the same vantage point as when he boarded her, that is, from the starboard side, not far from the foyer double doors in the side of the ship. He looked back at the area to the right of the foyer doors and there were no portholes to the immediate right . . . just a large, black empty space. The space where the Purser's Office and his parents cabin had been. When he left, the ship had listed such that the water level was just below the foyer doors.
At 2:30 am one of the Andrea Doria boats came alongside the Cape Ann with about 50 survivors.
2:30 am Cape Ann to Coast Guard: TAKEN FIRST LIFEBOAT OF SURVIVORS ABOARD.
By 2:45 am lifeboat number 1 came alongside with about 40 survivors. Unable to maneuver while unloading the lifeboats, the Cape Ann began to drift away from the Andrea Doria. The two lifeboats were instructed to hold on while the ship was repositioned closer, then they were turned loose. Meanwhile lifeboat number 2 was ferrying survivors from the Andrea Doria to the Ile de France.
For David and Louise Hollyer the danger wasn't over in their lifboat. As each passenger climbed aboard the lifeboat he turned to helping the sailors get the next survivors out of the water. An Italian couple who jumped into the sea with two babies lifted them up to them. After they took on about 85 passengers the lifeboat pulled away, and they headed for the most frightening moments they had faced. The lifeboat was propelled by hand levers, which were pushed and pulled by the occupants. They moved slowly through the pre-dawn mist toward a bulky silhouette in the distance which they learned was the liner Stockholm about two miles away. Suddenly a ship loomed out of the fog and bore down upon them. Its floodlights were aimed straight down, looking for survivors in the water, rather than ahead of the ship and without running lights the lifeboat was almost invisible. The ship bore down on them, and there seemed to be no escape. In desperation one of the Swedish sailors ignited a small box of matches and flung them high into the air. The helmsman saw the lifeboat and swung hard to starboard and the merchant ship slid by them with only a foot or two to spare, its deep wake almost swamping the tiny lifeboatl. A sailor on the deck above them yelled out in passing: "Can we help you?" They shouted back almost in unison: "Yes keep away from us!" What a tragic and ironic turn of fate this would have been for all of them to have escaped death on one vessel only to be scuttled by a rescue ship.
At 3:00 am Theresa LaFlamme and Helen Edwards stood at the ship's railing waiting to be lowered to the lifeboats from the Ile de France. They were among the last passengers to leave. Helen climbed down the cargo net and made it about three quarters of the way down and then slipped. She fell the last ten feet and landed in the lap of a French sailor.
3:05 am Stockholm to Ile de France: OUR
FORESHIP DAMAGED. OUR NUMBER ONE HOLD FLOODED. OTHERWISE SHIP ALL RIGHT. WILL
TRY TO PROCEED TO NEW YORK AT FULL SPEED. IF YOU ARE GOING TO NEW YORK WITH
PASSENGERS FROM ANDREA DORIA CAN WE KEEP COMPANY?
3:07 am Ile de France to Stockholm: WILL PROCEED TO NEW YORK FULL SPEED WHEN ALL
ARE RESCUED. PLEASE ASK ANOTHER SHIP. MY SCHEDULE IS IMPERATIVE.
At 3:00 am lifeboat number 2 returned to the Cape
Ann, no more assistance was required.
3:45 am Ile de France to Andrea Doria: I INTEND TO RETURN FULL SPEED TO NEW YORK
AS SOON AS YOU WILL RELEASE ME. ARE YOU ABANDONING SHIP OR DO YOU STAY ON BOARD
WITH PARTY? HOW MANY PERSONS HAVE YOU STILL GOT ON BOARD TO EVACUATE, MORE OR
LESS?
3:50 am Stockholm: URGENT MESSAGE TO NEAREST COAST GUARD STATION. HAVE THREE
SERIOUS CASUALTIES ABOARD OUR SHIP FROM ANDREA DORIA WHO NEED IMMEDIATE
ATTENTION. PLEASE INVESTIGATE. IF POSSIBLE SEND HELICOPTER TO OUR POSITION.
It was about 4:00 am when crewman Fabio Chiussi decided it was time to leave. He had been on the Promenade Deck helping passengers down the rope to the lifeboats. The Andrea Doria was listing badly and he climbed down into one of the Stockholm lifeboats. Mayor Richardson Dilworth and his wife Ann climbed down a rope ladder into one of the last lifeboats and arrived at the Ile de France at 5:30am.
4:25 am Stockholm to Andrea Doria: HAVE APPROXIMATELY 425 SURVIVORS ON BOARD.
At 4:30 am Cape Ann recalled lifeboat number 1.
Both lifeboats were secured in their davits and permission to get underway was
requested from the Coast Guard.
4:35 am Stockholm to Coast Guard: IT IS DESIRED TO GIVE ANDREA DORIA YOUR MEDICAL
ASSISTANCE. WE HAVE HELICOPTER ON WAY FOR OUR INJURED.
 |
Loomis Dean: Huddled in a lifeboat, passengers taken off the Andrea Doria are taken to the Ile de France. |
 |
Loomis Dean: Hoisted toward help, a litter case ascends over the last yawning stretch of water between the lifeboat and the Ile de France deck. Lifeboats went out with litters. |
 |
United Press: A lonely lifeboat on its way to a rescue ship. |
 |
Dr. Lester S. Sinness (Courtesy of Dr. Joseph B. Levy): A lifeboat full of survivors arriving at the Ile de France. You can see the men in the center of the boat with their arms outstreched pulling on the levers that propelled the lifeboat. |
 |
Dr. Lester S. Sinness (Courtesy of Dr. Joseph B. Levy): The Andrea Doria during the rescue operation. This picture was taken from the deck of the Ile de France. You can see a lifeboat heading towards the Andrea Doria. An additional lifeboat is near the rear of the Andrea Doria. The site of the collision can be seen at the waterline towards the front. |
 |
Dr. Lester S. Sinness (Courtesy of Dr. Joseph B. Levy): The Andrea Doria during the rescue operation. This picture was taken from the deck of the Ile de France. On the left side of the picture you can see a group of lifeboats heading towards the Ile de France. Unknown rescue ship seen on the right side. |
 |
Loomis Dean: Plying tirelessly to and from the listing Andrea Doria, a fleet of Ile de France motor powered lifeboats carries on into the dawn. |
 |
Illustrated London News |
 |
|
 Photo:Illustrated London News |
Captain Piero Calamai and the crewman who stayed with him on the vessel until all hope of saving her was gone, head for the rescue ship in lifeboats. |
 AP Wirephoto |
A lifeboat full of survivors comes along the Coast Guard buoy tender Hornbeam. |
 UP Photo |
|
 |
Illustrated London News: Andrea Doria survivors gather on the Stockholm deck wearing their life vests as a precaution. |