A Tribute to the Swedish American Line The White Viking Fleet 14 Years on the Internet
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There is an extensive recount of the accident on Henrik Ljungström's and
Daniel Othfors' excellent website The Great Ocean Liners. Look up the Andrea Doria,
and don't miss the appendix at the end of the page.

Also see : Andrea Doria - Tragedy at sea	http://www.andreadoria.org/
The collision from the viewpoint of a crew member on the Stockholm	http://www.oceanliner.org/johnson.htm
Radio News	http://www.otr.com/andrea.html

Leif Vickberg was an officer's apprentice on the Stockholm in 1956. He is now a retired Sea Captain and retired Captain in the Swedish Naval Reserve.  This photo shows Leif at a lifeboat drill on the westbound voyage prior to the eastbound voyage of the collision. Leif Vickberg is listed on the crew manifest below.

The crew manifest from Stockholm's voyage from Gothenburg, prior to the accident. A manifest for the departure from New York had not yet been produced when the collision occured. From the Dawe collection

On December 22, 2006, the local newspaper Lidingö Tidning, featured an interview with Leif Vickberg by Ragnar Nordqvist. The headline was: "Leif saw the gigantic ship sink". Here are some highlights from the article:

Just after 11 p.m., Leif Vickberg, a 19-year old officer's apprentice on SAL's passenger ship Stockholm, was asleep in his cabin. He had been on watch from four until eight, from the time of the departure from New York. A terrible crash, a gnawing noise, then more crashes. Sirens. Leif falls out of his bed. There is a fog, and it is dark. He can see the lights from another ship. Leif is ordered to go to an open gate below deck, 2 to 3 meters above the sea. A lifeboat approaches, full of crew. Their hats said "Andrea Doria". The last man left the lifeboat, pushing the empty boat out to sea. "I thought it was very poor seamanship. The first lifeboat was filled with crew. The second and third as well." "Instead of steering starbord, as you always should do at sea, Andrea Doria had steered port. A deadly sin at sea." Back on deck, Leif saw the night was lit up by the blue sparks from welders cutting openings in the hulls to rescue more people. "At the demolished bow a terrible sight met us. People cut into half. Limbs. People screaming and crying." "Among the wrecked parts, we found the miracle girl, 14 year old Linda Morgan. She had been thrown on to Stockholm from the bed in her cabin on board the Andrea Doria." Three hours after the collision the French liner Ile de France appeared. The rescue efforts proceeded much faster when the ship had arrived. The Andrea Doria sank, with the aft and the propellers disappearing into a whirlpool. There was only silence. Nobody made a sound. No wind, no sound from the sea. "It is an image that appears to me now and then. Chrystal clear." Leif Vickberg stayed in New York six months after the accident, to be a witness at the trial. There was no verdict. The trial ended abruptly when the lawyers and executives of both shipping companies realized that they were insured by the same company.

Pages showing items from the Dawe collection Start page Photos, people page1 Photos, people page2 Photos, people page3, the Lounges Photos, people page4, the Lounges Photos, people page5, the Dining Room The Collision page1 The Collision page2 The Folk Dance Teams, page 2 The Gripsholm of 1925, Bridge Photos The Stockholm of 1948, Photos Chief Purser Hugo Bilén Chief Purser Evert Eriksson Cashier T Odenlund Uniforms SAL Souvenirs

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