Atlantic Waves

[Doc Vernon]

MichelangeloStorm.jpg



Today, as we near the eastern tip of Long Island and gradually approach New York harbor (we tie up at 6 tomorrow morning in Red Hook, Brooklyn), the huge Queen Mary 2 shudders slightly in a slow, rolling sea. The skies are bright, the sun strong & the white caps highlighted, however.



It was a reminder. Fifty years ago, in April 1966, another mighty trans-Atlantic liner, Italy's Michelangelo (about 200 ft shorter & 100,000 tons less than the QM2, but still a very big ship) encountered some of the worst seas. Slammed by tremendous waves, her wheelhouse and forward deck housing were damaged and mangled in places. Several passengers were washed into the sea and lost. Days later, on her regular westbound run from Naples, Genoa, Cannes & Gibraltar, the year-old pride of the Italian merchant navy sailed into New York harbor in sadness. Her forward railings were crumpled, the fore decks twisted and draped in huge canvas tarps.