Most folks appreciate ice-covered mountain tops from afar, content to stay safe and warm at the base, but there is a rare breed, a few intrepid fools whose inner voice commands they must climb, driven by testosterone or ego, simply because it is there. Obsessed with standing on top of the world, they strive to conquer hostile slopes, their reward; simply surviving. As divers we share that spirit of adventure, exploring our own alien and unforgiving environment, although diving is much easier and safer then scaling alpine peaks. But for those with a passion for diving lost ships there is a
summit that beckons, a distant behemoth known to some and explored by few. The Andrea Doria, a once opulent passenger liner, emits her siren call to wreck divers, a deep, dark and dangerous Mount Everest for wreck divers.
The Sinking of Andrea Doria
Launched in 1951 the beautiful Andrea Doria, (named not for a woman, but for a sixteenth century Italian Admiral), was post-war Italy’s chance to regain some of former maritime pride. Constructed at cost of 30 million dollars, the Italia Line then turned the seven-hundred foot leviathan into a trans-Atlantic palace of modern art. Using notable contemporary Italian masters, they fitted all of the common areas with the finest murals, paintings, bronze statuary, hand sculpted mosaics and friezes, adding another estimated 10-28 million dollars to her cost. Three distinct classes, first, second and third, were each provided with their own unique accommodation, dining rooms and lounge’s. Nothing was overlooked for the passenger’s entertainment; Movie Theater, big band orchestras, three swimming pools, a gymnasium and even day care for the kiddies was all provided for. She did her job well, successfully wining and dining thousands of happy passengers, feting them in luxury and earning her name as a premier passenger liner with one-hundred event free Atlantic crossings until tragedy struck at 11:10 PM on July 25, 1956.
That night a thick pea soup fog shrouded the ship and hung heavy across the calm sea. After a grand finale dinner, most of the passengers had gone to bed, serenaded by intermittent bleating of theships foghorn, eager to arrive in New York City the following morning. On the bridge of the Andrea Doria, the ships officers studied a menacing blip on the radar, altered course and peered off into the swirling mist, eyes straining for a sign of the approaching ship. The specter moving towards them was the Stockholm, a small Swedish-American liner, and although they could see the Andrea Doria on their radar, they misinterpreted the distance and the Stockholm incredibly turned onto a collision course. To the officers on the bridge of the Andrea Doria the ghostlike bow of a Stockholm appeared out of thegrey gloom like a wraith. There was no time to maneuver and within seconds the
reinforced bow of the Stockholm, designed cut through ice choked Scandinavian fjords, sliced deeply into the starboard side of the Andrea Doria. Piercing through staterooms, engineering spaces and fuel tanks, the Doria’s forward momentum pivoted the bow of the smaller ship like scythe through her bowels, destroying water tight bulkheads and sealing her fate. At only one third her size, the small Swedish David had struck a mortal blow to the Italian Goliath. When the Stockholm pulled away, the Andrea Doria took on an incredible list, as thousands of tons of frigid water flooded through the cavernous wound. The incredible angle of the ships list rendered half of the ships lifeboats useless and with no power the Doria was dead ship, drifting at the mercy of the tide. In a fantastic rescue effort involving a number of vessels over the next few hours, 1650 passengers and crew were saved, but tragically fifty-two people died, most of them asleep in bed at the moment of the collision.
The Doria stayed afloat eleven hours before finally succumbing to her wound and sinking the following morning at 10:09AM. In the days that followed the wreck would be visited by adventurers and the curious and as the years passed the dreamers came, each hoping to salvage the ship.
The Doria stayed afloat eleven hours before finally succumbing to her wound and sinking the following morning at 10:09AM.
There followed a number of attempts, most went bust, but a few had some degree of success recovering bits and pieces of the Doria’s greatness; a bronze statue of the namesake Admiral, the ships stern bell, some artwork, and most notably the purser’s safe,(which was opened on a live television program). The whole of the ship could never be salvaged, so the great liner slowly rusts, entombed forever on the shifting sands of the Nantucket shoals.
The Andrea Doria Wreck Today
Located nearly 100 miles from land, the wreck of the Andrea Doria lays on her starboard side in 240 feet of frigid North Atlantic water, in an area notorious for poor visibility and often buffeted by strong currents. Whether you leave from Massachusetts seaport or the more popular jumping-off place of Montauk Point NY, the ten-hour journey to the wreck is an expedition in itself that begins with provisioning and equipping a suitable dive platform that can support 10 – 16 divers for up to a week at sea…this means a sizable and seaworthy offshore dive boat. Some expeditions prepare and never leave the dock due to bad weather and too often divers have traveled from around the world only to wait at the dock for an entire week for trip that doesn’t happens. Some make it to the Doria, get in a dive or two, then beat feet for land when the quickly changing weather turns the trip into a heaving roller coaster ride that has seasoned sailors green and throws every bit of unsecured dive gear, bedding and cameras in a pile on the deck. Other charters get out in glorious weather but can’t dive the wreck due to a 2-3 knot current. But every now and then Neptune relents and the window opens, granting access to those who dare.
Descending the anchor line you prepare yourself to see a great ship, but become slightly disoriented by the false image of a seafloor that rises to meet you at 190 feet. It takes a moment to realize this is the uppermost side of the ship, and beneath the brightly colored anemones, scrubby growth and occasional starfish you begin to make out vaguely defined rows of closed portholes, all lined up and disappearing into the gloom. Huge arcing arms of the life boat davits rise above the hull and are festooned with multicolored filter feeders and the tattered remnants of a lost nets. A fin kick propels you the edge of a railing and peering down into what was the enclosed promenade, you can still see the teak floor is still in place but now a wall, the brass outlines and numbers of a shuffleboard court still evident in the wooden deck. Open doors beckon and darkened passageways plummet into stygian blackness deep inside the ship. For those with the training, equipment and experience, the path to the summit they seek begins here. Clipping off strobes and reel you play out penetration line as you descend, cables dangling around you, the walls are now floors and every flat surface is thick with silt. The faint green glow of ambient light that filters down through a few open portholes above fades away. A yawning hole in wall reveals itself to be a stairway and with a quick tie off of your line and another strobe clipped off, you corkscrew yourself down another deck, deeper into the Doria. Here there is no flow, the water still and dead, and silt the consistency of talc piles up like snowdrifts. Your light stabs the darkness and your pulse quickens as you push further in to the ship, the only sound your bubbles as they bounce along the steel above you. A huge chasm opens up and as you swim into the engulfing blackness hugging the wall, once linoleum covered floor. Vague shapes form in the distance; dinner tables jut out from the wall; you’re in the dining room. Drop down yet even deeper into the wreck, 230 feet down and you stop just short of tangle of debris. The gleam of white bounces back from below you and a closer look reveals a lone dinner plate lying in the mud, the “ITALIA” logo still evident on the gilded rim, a rust stained token of the great liners former glory. A quick check of your gauges makes it clear it’s time to turn the dive and as you spin in place its clear to see your reel is your life line.
No matter how slow you move or good your technique, the once clear water behind you is now turbid. Exhaust bubbles bouncing into the steel overhead have caused rust particles to percolate down like a brown snow storm and even the slightest movement in the stagnant water has sent ripples through the cloak of silt. The journey out seems to take longer and as you methodically reel your way out of the labyrinth, the reassuring blink of the strobe suddenly indicates the exit is near. Looking up, the warm green ambient light that shines through the doorway seems the size of a postage stamp. Exiting the wreck the surface is still far away, and an hour or more of decompression is required before you can safely surface after this dive, but it was worth it. The long journey, training, equipment and years of experience all to get a glimpse of the Andrea Doria and explore were few dare has only whet your appetite, and you know you will be back.
There are only a handful of dive boat operators taking divers out to the Andrea Doria and besides the basic equipment requirements (hi-capacity double tanks with manifold and dual regulators, dry-suit , lights-back up lights, main penetration and back-reels, strobes, and SMB’s for starters), you must be certified in advanced wreck diving techniques, advanced/technical Nitrox and Trimix breathing gases. (the old school way of diving deep on air just doesn’t cut it anymore). The skippers are going to want to see not only those certifications but a dive log with few years of diving experience in North Atlantic conditions PLUS a few references prior to allowing anyone on the charter. Many will ask you to make a few shallower wreck dives first to check you out and give you a taste of Northeast wreck diving. In order to get the best weather window for heading out to the Nantucket Shoals, charters are planned from mid-July through August when the water is at its warmest.