352 : The Atlantic 



severe and even went unnoticed by some of the passengers. Never- 

 theless, it laid open one side of the vessel and within a few hours she 

 had sunk beneath the waves carrying with her 1,513 of the 2,201 per- 

 sons aboard. The whole world was shocked by the unanticipated fea- 

 tures of this disaster. One of the sad features was that this maiden 

 voyage of the largest ship afloat had attracted a highly select group 

 of people including leaders in government, industry, finance and the 

 arts, and nearly all of them went down with the ship. 



Such losses increased the sense of surprise and shock with which 

 news of the disaster was received on both shores of the Atlantic. It 

 also directed attention to inadequate information and training of 

 the passengers and crew for an emergency, inadequate provision of 

 lifeboats and devices for launching them and other safety factors. 

 Among the ironic circumstances attending the sinking was the fact 

 that a vessel which might have rendered important service in rescue 

 operations was within sight of the Titanic at the time of the sinking; 

 in fact, this ship saw rockets and distress signals of the Titanic and 

 failed to interpret them correctly or at least failed to operate in 

 response to them. 



Radio communication also proved defective. A ship which should 

 have responded to the Titanic's radio signals failed to do so. While 

 equipped with radio, it carried only one operator who had closed his 

 shack and redred for the night. The loss of the Titanic produced at 

 least one useful by-product. It revived a general international interest 

 in the matter of safety of life on the high seas and led to many im- 

 provements in equipment and operation of all classes of ocean vessels. 



Progress in size, speed and luxury does not always go hand in 

 hand with safety and care in operation. This was demonstrated anew 

 on the night of July 25, 1956 when the Swedish motorship Stoc\- 

 holm and the Italian liner Andrea Doria collided forty-five miles 

 south of Nantucket Island. In this disaster some fifty persons were 

 lost; scores were injured. After staying afloat for eleven hours the 

 Andrea Doria sank in 225 feet of water. Half of the Andrea Dorias 

 lifeboats could not be launched to save her own passengers because 

 the ship listed and the lifeboats operated by gravity. Only favorable 

 circumstances prevented an even greater disaster. These circum- 

 stances included light winds and relatively quiet seas, the fact that 

 Stockholm though damaged could launch her boats and accommo- 

 date many of the survivors, the presence nearby of the French 

 liner lie de France and other ships which were able to join in rescue 



