LATEST NEWS
Special July Event: Launching the Andrea Doria Lifeboat
The Andrea Doria Lifeboat Launching—60 Years Later
Saturday, 30 July 2016
10:00 am–4:00 pm
Discovering, recovering, restoring and re-launching Andrea Doria’s Lifeboat #1, at the Maritime Academic Center, State University of New York Maritime College.
Photo courtesy Mark Koch
Mark Koch, a dive manager from the New Orleans area, has acquired the Andrea Doria’s Lifeboat #1 and had it restored to new quality at Scarano Boatbuilding in Albany, NY. The 28-foot boat looks great—shiny, bright white, and totally renewed, except for a few of its historic dents and mystifying bullet holes. Yes, bullet holes. All of its mechanical components have been reconditioned and the human-powered cranks that drive the big brass propeller operate perfectly.
On July 30—60 years from the sinking—this restored lifeboat will be launched from the waterfront at the SUNY Maritime College. All willing participants are invited to paddle the lifeboat out into Long Island Sound for a short excursion (the boat holds about 50 people).
Historians, divers, ship and boat preservationists 
and others will discuss the Andrea Doria, her collision at sea with the Stockholm, and the significance of that collision to the merchant marine world. Discussions will focus on the repercussions of that accident, the evolution of lifeboat technology, and the effects of the sinking on the training of merchant mariners and on the evolution of SCUBA technology.
In addition, docents will lead tours of the Maritime Industry Museum at Fort Schuyler, which houses exhibits on the history of the United States maritime industry, including commercial shipping, the merchant marine, the port of New York, and history of Fort Schuyler.
- 10:00 am: Registration, Coffee, Tea and Muffins (in Maritime Academic Center)
- 10:30–11:30 am: Presentations
- 11:30 am: Launch of the boat
- 12:15 pm: Lunch ($15 per person at the cafeteria)
- 1:30 pm: Presentations in the Luce Library (in Fort Schuyler)
- 2:30–4:00 pm: Tour of the Maritime Industry Museum (in Fort Schuyler)
Photo courtesy Mark Koch
This event is free and open to the public.
Suggested Donation – $5 to $10.
Reservations required, 914 737-7878 x 0 or email nmhs@seahistory.org
The event will take place at:
Maritime Academic Center, State University of New York Maritime College
6 Pennyfield Avenue
Bronx, NY 10465
Category:
I just saw this…I am not sure I can make it on the 30th…I am the co-editor along with my late father of Out of the Fog, the Sinking of Andrea Doria (Cornel Maritime Press 2003) and I certainly would be interested! My father was one of the lawyers for Swedish America Line and the book is a translation of Algott Mattson’s book in Swedish about the collision, and contains a legal opinion about how the matter of fault would have been decided if the lawsuits had not settled.
Please registe me for the Andrea Doria event. I was working at the Bethlehem Key Highway shipyard in 1956 when the Stockholm came in for the Bow repair.
Naresh M. Maniar, Naval Architect
166-41 Powells Cove Blvd, 4 C, Whitestone, NY 11357,
Phone/Fax 917 563 1175 Cell 201 638 2318
We look forward to meeting you at the Andrea Doria launch on July 30, 2016.
Any newsletters for future events add me to your mailing list.