NOTE – If you missed Lost Seventy Years Ago Part 1 by Adam M. Grohman, it can be found in the July 2026 issue or on our website.
As the rescue fleet headed for port, questions were being raised by reporters and the public alike. How could two vessels, both equipped with radar, have been involved in a collision? For those who perished in the tragic collision, the answer was moot. For those who survived, it was a question that needed to be answered. As news of the tragedy began to fill newspaper columns and magazine articles, two men heard a calling from the sunken liner. For one man, the call from the deep would become a lifetime passion and pursuit. For the other, it almost ended his life. The Andrea Doria, on the bottom for less than a day had already become a siren of the deep for those who yearned to hear her call.
Peter Gimbel and Joseph Fox were the first two divers to see the Andrea Doria. Gimbel, who in addition to being an investment banker, was “also an accomplished underwater photographer.” MacLeish, a Life magazine editor assured Gimbel that they “would purchase any underwater photographs that Gimbel might take of the sunken liner.” Soon after, Gimbel, Fox and a small entourage convinced a skipper on Nantucket Island to venture out to the site. Twenty-eight hours after the Andrea Doria sank, Gimbel and Fox descended to gather photographic images. Using “double tanks with no pressure gauges, breathing off double-hose regulators, and wearing rubber exposure suits over woolen underwear,” the two divers explored the vessel. After shooting several photographs, Fox indicated to Gimbel that he was having problems. “He was suffering from carbon dioxide build up; he felt dizzy and uncoordinated” and Gimbel recognized the signs of a diver in peril. Quickly Gimbel assisted Fox to the surface. The action saved Fox’s life. Fox would never dive on the wreck again; Gimbel however was “hooked for life.” He would return to dive the wreck a few weeks later, this time with Editor Kenneth MacLeish and a team of divers. While the second set of photographs, many of which were in color, was being viewed across the globe in the glossy pages of the September 17, 1956 issue of Life Magazine, another group of divers were gearing up for their descent on the Andrea Doria. Hoping to photograph and film the sunken vessel was a team which included James Dugan, Frederic Dumas, and Louis Malle. Along with “back up divers, support personnel….compressors, and French dive equipment,” the men were on their way to the wreck site by September 13, 1956. Over the course of two months, the expedition was plagued with bad weather, personnel changes, and equipment shortages. Though some footage was attained of the Andrea Doria, there was not enough to utilize the film commercially. The expedition ended when cameraman Louis Malle suffered an eardrum injury.
As divers continued to descend upon the wreck in various expeditions, the question of how the two liners struck continued. “Four months of hearings established that both vessels shared responsibility for the collision.” The Stockholm, not adhering to the recommendations set forth in the 1948 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, was well north and was in a way, “was legally driving in the opposite direction on a wide, but potentially dangerous one-way street.” However, the Andrea Doria, with fully functional radar equipment, should have recognized the potential problem and effectively took action to steer clear of the approaching vessel. In addition, the Andrea Doria was in a dangerous status due to her empty fuel tanks and her rate of speed in a thick, patchy fog bank. Both vessels and their crews however were responsible because had the radar readings “been plotted to establish the course of each oncoming vessel, the converging paths would have been evident to the officers of both liners in adequate time to avoid collision.” Hindsight however is always twenty-twenty.
In the seventy years since the Andrea Doria plunged to the bottom, divers have braved the conditions of the sea, sharks, the dangerous depths and the unimaginable hazards to visit the shipwreck. Initial thoughts of salvage eventually faded and instead, divers began to explore the wreck more intimately as their equipment increased in efficiency and effectiveness. From well planned and financially backed expeditions with plans to enter and remove safes and other valuable items, to amateur technical divers, the Andrea Doria has played host to many adventurers. Some of the divers and adventurers wished to find evidence that would assist in the determination why the Andrea Doria took such a significant list upon the initial collision. Others wanted to retrieve interesting artifacts from her gift shop, her china closets, or other areas of the vessel. In August of 1973, former U.S. Navy divers Don Rodocker and Chris DeLucchi utilized an undersea capsule named Mother to remain submerged on the Andrea Doria site for over a week as they attempted to access and procure the bank’s safe. During their saturation dive the men breathed a “mixture of 5.4 percent oxygen and 94.6 percent helium through umbilicals – long hoses” while they cut through the hull doors to gain access to the foyer of the vessel’s bank. By day eight the two men had successively removed the doors and gained access to the area of the ship. Unfortunately, they were greeted by a tangled amalgamation of rotted wood paneling, electrical cords, light fixtures and other disarrayed debris. The men decided against going into the maelstrom of wreckage determining that to do was in an effort to retrieve the safe would have been “suicide.” To date, many pieces of the vessel’s artwork, including the statue of Admiral Doria, a ship’s bell, tons of Italia line embossed china plates, cups, saucers, trinkets, souvenirs, and more have been recovered. Divers, like Mark Silverstein and Captain John Bricker have completed numerous dives on the site and have recovered a host of artifacts from her dark remains. Each of their artifact recoveries required extensive penetration into the Andrea Doria’s jumbled interior. This is a world where tables, stools, staircases and wash basins jut out at crazy angles owing to the wreck’s starboard-side-down position on the ocean floor. Since no ship is built to withstand loads in that position, nor years of saltwater immersion, the Andrea Doria’s structure continues to deteriorate which makes navigating her insides hazardous for all but the most experienced divers. Many divers have become disoriented or trapped within her interior spaces in their quest for Andrea Doria “souvenirs”. Both divers take the utmost care and precaution when planning their dives to the Doria which has been called the “Mount Everest of shipwreck diving” owing to her 250-foot depth and harshness of sea and weather conditions. Bricker and Silverstein have retrieved china, glassware, silverware and brass fixtures from the wreck. In addition, Silverstein has shot video of the Andrea Doria on days when the visibility has been exceptionally good. Interestingly, very few recovered artifacts actually bear the name “Andrea Doria” because of the money-saving custom of applying the company name to shipboard items rather than the name of a specific ship. This way, items can be more easily shared between ships of the line. That is why most Andrea Doria artifacts likely bear the inscription “ITALIA”. Silverstein has one item in his collection which actually bears the name “T/N ANDREA DORIA” – a latex rubber balloon which may have been part of the decorations during the eve-of-arrival party that fateful Wednesday night. But his most-prized artifact according to Silverstein is a jar of still-preserved liquored cherries which he found amongst the remains of a bar located in the stern and from which he adventurously sampled the contents upon returning to the deck of the dive boat Sea Hunter III.
Always willing to answer the call of the sunken liner was Peter Gimbel. Though he took an almost decade hiatus between his dives – three sets of dives in 1956 and 1957 – he returned on multiple occasions to film, to explore the wreck, and to further investigate claims of internal causes, such as design flaws which resulted in the Andrea Doria’s quick list after the collision. Gimbel returned in 1975 and again in 1981 where he found crucial evidence regarding the damage caused by the collision and to retrieve the bank safe. After the Bank of Rome safe was topside, Gimbel and Ted Hess focused in on determining the cause of the Andrea Doria’s significant list. “A massive breach never before suspected led out to the sea. The bulkhead separating the generator room from the deep tank compartment had been smashed open by the Stockholm’s pivoting bow; the existence of the watertight door was incidental.” The discovery by the two divers indicated that “with three compartments torn open by the collision, the luxury line had suffered a blow with which she had been unable to cope.”
Some men have spent large amounts of money, effort and personal sacrifice to answer the Andrea Doria’s call from the deep. Others, over fifteen, answered the call and perished because of her charms. Like a siren of the sea, the Andrea Doria will continue to call to divers who are willing to risk their lives to see her one last time. The Andrea Doria, slowly succumbing to the effects of the elements and of the sea will eventually disintegrate and become one with the ocean, as many of her brethren wrecks have done. But the Andrea Doria, will always remain ingrained in the hearts, minds, and souls of those who have descended upon her decks, peered through her crumpled hull and passageways, retrieved artifacts, artwork, and other souvenirs. Those who have braved nature, diving physiology, physical and mental stress however, did not see a twisted skeleton. Rather they caught a glimpse of one of the most beautiful and alluring ladies of the sea. As a result, the beckoning call of the grand dame will surely still be heard by those who choose to listen in our waters.
About the Author – Adam M. Grohman is the researcher and author of over thirty-eight books which capture the rich history of our maritime environs and United States Coast Guard history. For more information about scheduling a lecture or to purchase any of his available titles, please visit www.lulu.com/spotlight/adamgrohman or email grohmandive@hotmail.com.