Feedback from the SNAME* Annual Conference

Dear Pierette:

The Marine Forensic Committee that I chair opened the Technical and Research Session of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers at its national meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. Our one-hour part of the program as certainly was successful as we filled up the 75-seat room and had people standing at the back and in the doorway.  Phil Sims opened our session with a paper on the Decay of the Andrea Doria that had John Moyer and Steve Gatto as co-authors. Steve and John were unable to attend. The Society charges authors for attending meetings now due to the costs of meeting rooms in the Westin Hotel. Years ago things were different as authors went free. Times have certainly changed. Nonetheless, Phil did an excellent job of presenting the paper and attached is the current version of the Andrea Doria paper. I think you will find it interesting as there is a picture of Steve Gatto when he was much younger.

The rest of our session was also successful as there was a brief presentation of some research done on the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, followed by a presentation on the Guidelines for Investigating Shipwrecks that is being prepared by the Committee for possible publication in the near future.

I hope you will the attachment of interest and useful. Certainly the ship is decaying with the aluminum superstructure all but gone – a sacrificial anode that keeps the hull fairly intact. However, Phil Sims mentioned that in the visit to the wreck site this year, the bow is beginning to fall to the seabed as the hull now begins to decay. It is interesting to note that the HMHS Britannic in the Aegean Sea is in much better condition than the Andrea Doria even though that hull has been underwater for 93 years!
Bill Garzke

NB. Garzke is the chairman of the Marine forensic panel for the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers

*Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers

Filed under: Serving Our Seas, Survivor Stories | andrea doria, John Moyer, shipwrecks, SNAME annual conference, Steve Gatto, The Decay of the Andrea Doria, William Garzke|No Comments

“The Decay of the Andrea Doria” to be Presented at SNAME Annual Conference

On October 22, my friends John Moyer and Steve Gatto are heading to the SNAME (society of naval architects and marine engineers) conference in Rhode Island. Their friend, naval architect Phil Simms, will be presenting a scientific paper co-authored by Moyer, Gatto, and Simms called “The Decay of the Andrea Doria”.

The collaboration has come about after hundreds and hundreds of dives the 250 foot deep wreck which was once a luxurious liner. Now, the dive is known as the Mount Everest of the Deep, not only because of its dangerous depth, but because it is in the epicenter of turbulence, one of the reasons for the danger-imposing decay. Only the most experienced shipwreck divers usually attempt the site, which is filled with lurking dangers: cables, collapsed floors and walls,  fishermen’s nets to name a few. (See chapter 12 of Alive on the Andrea Doria for more details.)

I will be sharing details on this blog on the decay of the Andrea Doria, after the presentation. The three presenters have done extensive research on this topic, which will offer scientific data for use in marine forensic science.

The scientific report on the Decay of the Andrea Doria will be presented at a special session of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in Providence, Rhode Island on 22 October 2009 at 12 PM  in the Convention Center there.

Filed under: Andrea Doria, Serving Our Seas, Survivor Stories | John Moyer, Mont Everest of the Deep, SNAME national convention, Society of Naval Architects, Steve Gatto|No Comments