Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-07-29
Ship Crash Toll.
is 73 Still
Called Missing


Continued From First Page
500 persons from the Andrea
Doria itself.
Complaints from Andrea Doria
passengers included bitter claims
that the first lifeboats away
from the sinking ship contained
mostly crewmen and that crew
members failed to cope with the
confusion aboard the ship.
Thanked by Lawyers
The Italian captain spoke out
for the second time since the
accident in both a prepared
statement and at a crowded news
conference in the offices Of the
Italian line.
He struggled to express him
self in English and frequently
paused and drummed his fingers
on a table as he sought to con-
troll his emotions and answer
questions.
He was 1lanked by two attor-
neys for the Italian line.
Questions such as whether he
was on course or using the radar
navigational facilities on his ship
were left unanswered on advice
Of the attorneys.
AS to getting his passengers
safely away, Capt. Calamai said
he did not think of sending his
crewmen of the ship until 1.-The
officer in charge told me that we
have no more passengers on
board"
Acclaims His Crew
In his prepared statement, the
captain said:
Il can now say that it's true
that had it not been for the
courage Of my officers and men
and the cooperation and GAL
lantry Of passengers. the rescue
operations would have been far
more hazardous and might not
have met with such satisfactory
results"
He took pride in the fact that
almost everyone of the 1,706I
passengers and crewmen were
saved. Six deaths of passengersI
have been reported. Five crew.
men from the badly damaged
Stockholm are believed dead.
Il can say that all the seamen
on the ship did their duty" the
captain said.
At the news conference. the
captain-slowly and with some
hesitation as he CROPPED for
words-gave this account:
Il was on the bridge directly
after the crash. I called my
! deck officers and ordered them
} to prepare all lifeboats.
Il did not make any special
address to the passengers. 1 did
not want to quickly have an
alarm as far as they were con-
: cerned. because we couldn't use
the lifeboats on our port side be-
cause of the list and they were
too high.
They prepared all the life
, boats on the starboard side. II
then addressed all the passen-
gers to be calm at their muster
stations.
Il gave my instruction in |
Italian but they were repeated
over the public address system in |
English.
When the boats were ready |
to take passengers I gave orders
to embark children, women and |
old people," the captain said.
Calls to Other Ships
i Because it was not possible to |
use the boats on our port side
I called by radio the ship in the
vicinity to send other boats, and |
the Stockholm, too.
When they arrived in the
vicinity of our ship, we had
enough boats to disembark all
the passengers.
AFTER the passengers were
removed, 1 gave orders to one
part of the crew to go aboard
lifeboats. themselves. I remained
on board with about so members
iof the crew because had the
hope-the little hope-to save
the ship.
Because Of the position of the
ship-it kept listing worse-I
began to lose hope. was watt
ing for the two tugboats of the
Coast Guard which I called by
radio quickly after the collision.
There came a time when 1
lost hope and had to leave. II
decided to quit the ship after the
men who remained with me
found it impossible to stay on
the deck.
When 1t was not possible to
remain and there was nothing to
do to save the ship, l went into
the last boat and remained in
the vicinity of the boat at the
bow. about 100 yards away.
Il am waiting for the tugboats
I called by radio. I stayed there
about three and one-half hours
after I got off the boat"