DESCRIPTION |
ALIVE ON
THE ANDREA DORIA!
The Greatest Sea Rescue in
History
RECOLLECTIONS AND REVELATIONS
50
years after the disaster,
survivor tales of
terror and new scientific
evidence are revealed!
On July 25, 1956, a most
unlikely collision between
two ocean liners took place
off the shoals of Nantucket.
The catastrophic ramming
of the Stockholm into Italy's
crown jewel, the luxury
liner Andrea Doria, sent
shock waves around the world.
In the new book, ALIVE
ON THE ANDREA DORIA! THE
GREATEST SEA RESCUE
IN
HISTORY,
author Pierette Domenica
Simpson becomes the first
Andrea Doria survivor
to publish a first-hand
account as well as confront
the controversial details
of the disaster.
As an eyewitness, Simpson presents the human aspects of survival through insightful vignettes as retold by her fellow passengers. Both poor immigrants and wealthy travelers give their moving accounts of despair and elation after surviving circumstances that could have led to a disaster like that of the Titanic: a teen-age girl is catapulted from her bunk on the Doria and is found alive on the mangled bow of the Stockholm; a mother hurls her toddler overboard, hoping he will land in a lifeboat; young parents search for one of their daughters for two days; a new college graduate carries eleven children down the rope ladder of a heavily inclined vessel; a priest crawls on all fours, offering general absolution and last rites.
Then, through interviews with dozens of survivors and nautical experts, ALIVE ON THE ANDREA DORIA! breaks open a cold case, one that should have been resolved in the maritime courts. But limits of liability were placed on the legal proceedings, and all evidence gathered to determine the true reasons for the collision and the sinking were halted. The case lay buried in coffers of mystery and controversy for decades. ALIVE ON THE ANDREA DORIA! divulges the contents of the pretrial transcripts, interprets the readings of the two ships' course recorders, and puts everything through a technical analysis. The reader is led to a logical conclusion about who was responsible for the calamity, one that debunks all previous theories.
ALIVE ON THE ANDREA DORIA! THE GREATEST SEA RESCUE IN HISTORY is appraised by Andrea Doria historian and diver David Bright: "In this book . . . survivor Pierette Simpson has accumulated rare and historical information from various nautical experts, government bureaucrats, maritime admiralty lawyers, and survivors on two continents. This could not have been done without knowledge of the Italian language and culture. . . . As an immigrant child traveling with her grandparents, Simpson experienced the tragedy with a young girl's innocence, but has written through the eyes and sensibilities of a brave lady who survived to tell her side of the story and that of many fellow survivors."
In a climate where writers
blur the boundaries of veracity
and fiction has become an
acceptable norm, Simpson
offers a refreshing choice:
a quest FOR the truth. Presenting
survivors' vivid recollections
along with revelations from
maritime experts, ALIVE
ON THE ANDREA DORIA! sticks
to the facts, making a solid
case for the end of the
Doria "mystery" and
a beginning for pragmatic
discussion. This in itself
is newsworthy. But additionally,
the book's launching is
synchronized with other
important events: dives
to the shipwreck, the 50th
anniversary survivors' reunion
in New York, and the publication
of the book in Italy by
Sperling & Kupfer, Milan.
©2006 Pierette Simpson, All Rights Reserved. | website: www.mcnpublishing.com
pierette@pierettesimpson.com
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