In the afternoon we walked down the beach to the port entrance. We had seen three pilot ships go there which indicates a big ship coming out! Caro wanted to get photos up close but as luck would have it the ship didn't come and as we were getting hot in the baking sun we walked back.
Some time later a huge container ship came out and while we watched it (and another ship coming in) a whale started breaching relatively close by. Very cool to see!
Earlier in the day while Caro and I were enjoying the veranda Roy came over and talked about the small cruise liner that had come into port. He said it had an interesting history so I looked it up on Wikipedia.
This ship is the MV Astoria. It looks much bigger in the photo than it really is. It is actually TINY by today's cruise ship standards and was built in Sweden during the war years. It has gone through numerous owners and names over the last 70 plus years. The important thing for me (and the reason we went downtown to see it) was that in 1956 it was called the "Stockholm'"and it was this ship that collided with (and sank) the Andrea Doria; a MAJOR accident that had the potential to rival the Titanic disaster of 1912. Because the Andrea Doria took 11 hours to capsize and sink and the close proximity of many ships coming to help only about 50 people perished. There were over 1600 people on the ship!
Totally awesome to see it!
Last nights parade is happening again tonight, only this time reversing the course from last night. Caro has gone up to watch; the difference being that she will see it in the day light and the people at the far end see it in the dark!
What an excellent surprise. Fascinating history and amazing more lives were not lost.
ReplyDeleteYes, a great surprise! I find this type of thing fascinating
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