A Girl on a Ship in the Night

“The man who has experienced shipwreck shudders even at a calm sea.”
Ovid – Roman Poet

There is an episode of the hit TV series Seinfeld where George Costanza, engaged in a dispute over a new apartment rental, is pitted against an older gentleman with a tragic life history – he is an Andrea Doria survivor. As the story unfolds, under the review of the tenant association, George’s personal pathetic life story is more tragic even than this man’s seafaring trauma. The association, out of pity, awards George the apartment, which he later loses to another tenant for a bribe of $50. For many, this obscure cultural reference is all they know about the Andrea Doria. But the Andrea Doria was an actual ship with a real and tragic story – and a most bizarre twist. This one gets interesting. Truth is stranger than fiction.
The SS Andrea Doria (named for a famous 16th-century Italian statesman and naval leader) was a luxury transatlantic ocean liner, Italy’s largest and fastest ship at the time. She was made famous by her sinking in the North Atlantic. This was the first shipwreck documented on television for the world to see.
On July 25, 1956, the ship bound for New York was approaching the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. In the midst of thick fog, the Andrea Doria met the MS Stockholm. Although both ships were equipped with radar, they apparently misread warnings. When visual contact was made, it was too late to avoid a collision. At 11:10 pm the bow of the Stockholm plowed into the Anrea Doria. Upon impact, 46 passengers on the Andrea Doria and five on the Stockholm were killed.
Struck on her starboard side, the Andrea Doria immediately started to list and take on water. She stayed afloat for over 11 hours before capsizing and sinking. 1,660 passengers and crew were rescued and survived.
When the news broke, every major outlet picked up the story, including ABC news. Edward Morgan was the ABC news anchor tasked with reporting the story. But there was a problem. Minutes before Edward Morgan went on the air, he was informed that his 14-year-old daughter Linda, who was a passenger on the Andrea Doria, was missing and presumed dead. Unbelievably, he was able to go on the air and report the story without losing his composure or mentioning his daughter.
At the same time, another facet of the story was developing. A young girl who had been asleep in her cabin aboard the Andrea Doria, woke up in the night and began screaming for her mother. A man on the Stockholm heard her cries and ran across the twisted wreckage towards the bow of the ship. There he found, perched on the destroyed railing of the Stockholm, a bed. And in that bed was a 14-year-old girl. That girl was Linda Morgan. Apparently, the bow of the Stockholm had scooped up the girl in her bed when it pierced the Andrea Doria and dragged her back as it withdrew, leaving her on the deck.
When Edward Morgan went back on the air the next day, he was able to talk about his daughter and her incredible survival story. He shared how difficult it was to share tragic news when it was about someone you loved. In an interview later, he said, “Within a space of 24 hours, this reporter has been pushed down the elevator shaft to the sub-basement of despair and raised again to the heights of incredible joy.”
Linda Morgan suffered a broken arm and was quickly dubbed The Miracle Girl. She returned to New York City aboard the damaged Stockholm, where she was reunited with her father. Though she physically recovered, she suffered her entire life with survivor’s guilt. Her stepfather and younger half-sister were killed in the accident, and her mother was badly injured.
Linda Morgan, now known as Linda Hardberger, moved to San Antonio, Texas, in 1970. She served as curator for both the McNay Art Museum and the Tobin Theatre Arts Fund. Her husband, Phil Hardberger, was the mayor of San Antonio from 2005 to 2009.
The wreck of the Andrea Doria remains one of the worst maritime disasters to occur in U.S. waters. And the true story of the Miracle Girl on board remains stranger than fiction.