Alive on the Andrea Doria!
Pierette Domenica Simpson
Reviewed by Diane Kasperski
Ms. Simpson was a survivor of the Stockholm - Andrea Doria collision.
In this incredible documentary of that ill-fated trip she does what has
not been done before. Alive on the Andrea Doria not only tells
passenger and crew stories but also has explanations from nautical
experts explaining how and why the collision took place.
Pierette Domenica Simpson was a child on July, 25 1956 traveling with
her Grandparents to America where she was going to live with her mother
and stepfather. Then her life and many others became perilously
endangered when the Stockholm hit the Andrea Doria, the pride of the
Italian fleet.
Ms. Simpson does an awesome job of telling the story of this
catastrophic event. She tells the story through the eyes of many of the
passengers that were aboard - their dreams - their hopes - where they
came from - where they were going - their terror - where they are today.
Ever since that tragic night Ms. Simpson had wanted to find out why the
collision occurred. She didn’t accept the overall belief that it was
the Italian, Captain Calamai’s fault. It was important to be able to
put this to rest and have closure. She sought out the help of nautical
experts to recreate the collision paths using documented transcripts of
the Bridge crew from both ships and today’s technology. In this way
they discovered that the assumed guilt of the Italian crew was
misplaced.
Alive on the Andrea Doria is a spellbinding tale of the “Greatest Sea
Rescue in History.” Ms. Simpson did a wonderful job. Rather than making
this a run-of the-mill dry documentary, it is a deep-felt account of a
tragedy that should not have happened.