Collision Course: The Classic Story of the Collision of the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm [Paperback]

Alvin Moscow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2004

How the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria met in one of history's deadliest collisions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Alvin Moscow's splendid book tells the full story . . . skillfully marshalling his facts, the author shifts back and forth between the two liners during those last eventful minutes before the collision."--The New York Times Book Review

"This brilliantly exciting narrative will go down as one of the great sagas of the sea."--Harper's

"An electrifying book."--Newsweek

"A highly perceptive, immensely readable account of the collision-one which will practically compel a reader to reach a decision such as the court might have made."--Chicago Tribune

From the Back Cover

In 1956, two luxury liners—the MS Stockholm and the SS Andrea Doria—equipped with every known safety device, collided off Long Island. The Stockholm was able to limp back to New York City, but the beautiful Andrea Doria, pride of the Italian Line, slipped slowly into the depths of the North Atlantic shortly after. Half a century later, the mystery of their convergence continues to fascinate readers and experts alike, right down to the stories of hidden treasures worth millions awaiting discovery deep in the Doria’s decaying hull.
In Collision Course, author Alvin Moscow vividly re-creates the horror and magnitude of the catastrophe that struck the passengers and crews of both ships with such compelling realism that the reader relives the terror and confusion. The collision itself still baffles maritime experts and laymen alike by its enormity and utter improbability: that the two enormous ships, sailing in opposite directions on a calm sea, could converge at the same time and the same place. Moscow attended the four-month court hearings that sought to find the causes of the disaster, and reviewed six thousand pages of testimony and exhibits, interviewing all the principals to discover what actually happened that fateful night. Collision Course is an engrossing tale of human fallibility, and a must-read for any maritime history buff.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592282873
• ISBN-13: 978-1592282876
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #992,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure, March 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Collision course: The classic story of the most extraordinary sea disaster of our times--the collision at sea of the S.S. Andrea Doria and the M.S. Stockholm (Hardcover)

When he wrote this book, Alvin Moscow was a reporter (AP, I believe), and in Collision Course he produced one of the greatest news stories ever written. You literally live the agony of the Stockholm's junior officer who had the con when the Andrea Doria inexplicably crossed his bow. You live the agony of Captain Calamai as his magnificent ship does what modern ships are not supposed to do - capsize. There are heroes (among them four heroic ships) and there are cowards, there is tragedy and there is triumph. As a sample of journalistic skill this book has no equal. I have read and reread this vivid and fascinating account of a marine disaster many times. It is a permanent and dog-eared treasure in my non-fiction library.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Skillfully written, November 6, 2006

By 

Pierette D. simpson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Collision Course: The Classic Story of the Collision of the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm (Paperback)

Mr. Moscow's skill in reportage is outstanding. His chronological account of the Andrea Doria tragedy is compelling, with a good balance of human and technical accounts. In 1959, it was the bible of the Andrea Doria-Stockholm collision. When I first read it years ago, I believed Mr. Moscow's explanations.

Since then, new information of what really happened on July 25-26, 1956, has been studied via technology. I wish that the most recent edition of Collision Course had reviewed some of this new evidence. As an eyewitness to the historic event, and having survived it along with my family, I have researched much of the information available to nautical scientists, maritime lawyers, and survivors. Armed with the data which reveals the truth about the tragedy, I know longer believe previous explanations about what caused the collision. Nevertheless, this book makes for an interesting read because it is skillfully written.

Pierette Domenica Simpson

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent account of the loss of the ANDREA DORIA, January 23, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collision course: The classic story of the most extraordinary sea disaster of our times--the collision at sea of the S.S. Andrea Doria and the M.S. Stockholm (Hardcover)

On the night of July 25, 1956, the Italian liner ANDREA DORIA collided with the Swedish liner STOCKHOLM off Nantucket Sound. The DORIA sank the next morning in 225 feet of water. This is the classic case of "radar-assisted collision" (both ships detected each other 20 minutes before the collision!). "Collision Course" is an excellent account of how the collision came about, and why the DORIA (built to modern damage stability requirements) still sank anyway. The photographs of the sinking DORIA are gripping.