What other seafaring and maritime disasters interest you?

[Colin W. Montgomery]

Reply

Answering the question of: "What other examples of seafaring and maritime disasters are of the most interest to you?" I have to say the Andrea Doria/Stockholm collision in July 1956. Not because of the number fatalities, but because it was the first radar assisted collision between passenger carrying vessels. See:
LightsToPort-LightsToStbd.

Ha-ha, radar assisted collision.

 

[Colin W. Montgomery]

Technology takes all the fun out of things. Same is true about flying commercial planes these days. All automatic, even the landings. Even planes that you fly for fun are now equipped with GPS. Hard to get lost.

Mr. Halpern, I think Churchill alluded to that very early in the 20th Century.

 

[Colin W. Montgomery]

Hi all,

The topic for this month:

What other examples of seafaring and maritime disasters are of the most interest to you? Are there other ships that have been lost, be they in war or peacetime, which you feel are deserving of more attention? Do you feel, perhaps, that these have been overshadowed by bigger names such as that of Titanic?

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Adam.

Certainly, I would have to say all of them.
I find all maritime disasters at least somewhat fascinating.

 

[Anthony Carter]

The USS Indianapolis. Can't get enough of that one. It's not the ship so much as the stories of the men in the water. Cliche, I know, but there was a book I found about it in high school and remembered it from Jaws and was like, "Well I need my stupid summer reading done" as teens do and just instead ended up with a new obsession to my parents absolute delight. Because then came researching sharks and dehydration and WWII submarines and stuff like that. At least they didn't have to hear about Titanic or the ghost in the house. *shrugs*

 

[PRR5406]

A company called "Bathymetric" is doing intense survey work on "Andrea Doria" this summer. There is still a general shape of the liner, albeit crumbled and heaped on the seabed, and her port hull is caving in further each year. It appears the effects of tide, gravity, and corrosion have finally caused the bow to break free and fall toward the ocean floor. While I love to study wreck archaeology on "Lusitania", and all the others, in my mind the "Andrea Doria" is enticing above all them. Perhaps it's accessibility, nearness to where I live, my listening to the live radio coverage as a boy. "Titanic" first, "Doria" second.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

The sinking of the Lusitania. Also the sequence of events related to derelict ships Mary Celeste and Joyita.