A New Jersey man who survived the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956 donated his life jacket to a museum there.
Vernon resident Alfonso Caliendo, 83, donated the orange life jacket that saved his life 67 years ago to the New Jersey Maritime Museum on Long Beach Island.
The ill-fated ship was leaving Genoa, Italy en route to New York City when it collided with the passenger liner Stockholm off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing 46 passengers and 5 in Stockholm.
After the collision, Caliendo, 16, put on his life jacket and jumped into the water after seeing lights from the lifeboat.
“Everything was very black, I remember. Then, all of a sudden, boom, the life jacket pulled me fast, so I went up, and I started swimming,” he told NJ Advance Media.
On Thursday, he wore a life jacket for the first time since the shipwreck.
It was written with the Italian words “Italia Societa di Navigazione,” the name of the passenger liner that owned Andrea Doria.
Forty-six passengers died in the sinking of the Andrea Doria in 1956.AP
The professional painter also contributed letters, including one from a law firm regarding her claim for damages, offering $200 for lost clothing and other items.
The other is from Swedish American Line, the Stockholm operator.
“Swedish American Line wishes to express to you its regrets for any distress, inconvenience or loss you may have experienced following the tragic collision between the Andrea Doria and Stockholm,” it read.
The remains of a sunken ocean liner sunk beneath the waves in 1956.ullstein bild via Getty ImagesAlfonso Caliendo remembers the sinking, recalling that “everything was very black.” Bettmann Archives
Caliendo is from Naples, Italy, on his way to rejoin his parents, three sisters and four younger brothers, who immigrated to New York City three months earlier.
He stayed behind because he had pink eyes and couldn’t get on the ship that took his family to America.
After the tragedy, he joined them in Brooklyn, where he lived until 1962.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
