Perhaps for as long as people have sailed the seas, ships have disappeared without a trace. No distress calls. No wreckage. No survivors. The USS Cyclops is arguably one of the most famous of these, having vanished in the Bermuda Triangle in March 1918. The MS Antonia Graza is probably a close second. She – and her 627 passengers and 500 crewmembers – simply disappeared on May 21, 1962.
“The Beauty”
The Antonia Graza was operated by the Italian Line and built as part of a trio of new, state-of-the-art, and modern ocean liners to help revitalize Italy’s merchant navy after the devastation of World War II. All three of these ships were built by the Ansaldo Shipyard in Genoa, Italy. They were to be called Andrea Doria, Cristoforo Colombo, and Antonia Graza. Sadly, like the White Star Line’s Olympic-class liners, only one of these ships would avoid disaster and have a long career.
Marine engineers studied the Doria and Colombo’s first years of service and found where they could make improvements on the Graza. This new liner was slightly larger than her sisters at 32,666 GRT. Interestingly, diesel engines were installed instead of steam turbines. It’s possible that this was an attempt to improve the systems featured on the older Saturnia and Vulcania. The Graza’s diesel engines gave her a maximum speed of 25.5 knots. By the time the ship was launched on October 25, 1954, she was already being hailed as the pinnacle of Italian shipbuilding. As with her older sisters, the Italian Line spared no expense in outfitting the Antonia Graza. Artists from all over the world worked on the ship’s lavish interiors, earning her the nickname of La bellezza, or “the Beauty.”
The Antonia Graza left Genoa on her maiden voyage on October 31, 1955. Under the command of Captain Roberto Ruggiero, La bellezza was met with tremendous fanfare wherever she went. The ship was immediately popular with passengers and quickly became known as a happy ship. The Italian Line kept up interest in the Graza with an aggressive advertising campaign her first years. Along with Andrea Doria and Cristoforo Colombo, Antonia Graza restored the Italian Line to its pre-World War II eminence. However, these happy times wouldn’t last long.
Disaster struck on July 26, 1956 when Andrea Doria sank following a collision with the Swedish American Line’s Stockholm. Although built with the most modern safety features available, they were no match for the Swedish ship’s reinforced icebreaker bow. A total of 51 people lost their lives in the disaster. Cristoforo Colombo and Antonia Graza would continue by themselves until a new ship, Leonardo da Vinci, joined them in 1960. However, things were never quite the same after the Andrea Doria sank.
Last Voyage
The Antonia Graza left Genoa for the last time on May 14, 1962. Captain Roberto Ruggiero was once again in command, as he had been since the ship’s maiden voyage nearly seven years before. His quiet, good-natured affability belied a man who’d spent a lifetime at sea and served the Royal Italian Navy in two world wars. Ruggiero was a master mariner who exuded confidence and competence. He was known for being clear-headed at all times. There was perhaps no better man to command the Antonia Graza. As the liner departed, Captain Ruggiero waved goodbye to his wife, Bianca, and two teenage daughters, Sofia and Aria, from the starboard docking wing. None of them could’ve known what was to happen in just a few days.
As was typical, Antonia Graza stopped to pick up additional passengers in Cannes, Naples, and Gibraltar. Francesca Gancio, known mononymously as Francesca, boarded in Naples. She was set to star in a Hollywood comedy with the duo Allen and Rossi in a film called Ghost Ship! As was common with many entertainers at the time, Francesa performed for her fellow passengers throughout the voyage. In Gibraltar, 12-year-old Katherine Harwood boarded the Graza. The daughter of media mogul Sir Kenneth Harwood and his wife Alice, she was on her way to join her parents in New York City. Captain Ruggiero and the ship’s purser promised to look after Katherine during the trip. Even with the additional passengers, the Antonia Graza was only about 50% booked on her last voyage. Jet airliners were rising in popularity, and the age of ocean liners was coming to an end. The Italian Line and its competitors just didn’t realize it yet.
On May 19, a distress call from the Norddeutscher Lloyd ship SS Lorelei was broadcast at 8:17 am. No further messages were sent out. Being the closest ship available, Captain Ruggiero acknowledged and sailed the Antonia Graza north to the stricken Lorelei. Other ships also acknowledged the distress call but given the fact that the Graza was only half full and significantly faster, it was decided to let her handle the rescue by herself. At 3:13 pm, Ruggiero sent out a message that the operation was complete, and that one passenger had been rescued. There was apparently no sign of anybody else aboard the vessel. Captain Ruggiero indicated that Antonia Graza would resume her route to New York.
Two days later, on May 21, Antonia Graza’s radio traffic suddenly ceased at 6:32 pm. No distress call preceded this. It was theorized at the time that her communication systems broke down. But when the Graza failed to arrive in New York the following day, people knew that something terrible had happened. A massive air and sea search was launched, but no sign of the Italian ship was ever found. The disappearance made headlines across the world. For the second time in under a decade, Genoa was rocked by tragedy. Pope John XXIII led a mass at the Vatican and expressed his condolences to the families of the missing passengers and crew. Many other world leaders followed.
Antonia Graza had vanished without a trace.
A Lingering Mystery
Since 1962, there’s been much speculation about what happened to the Antonia Graza. The commonly accepted theory is that the ship fell victim to a massive rogue wave, much like the SS Poseidon. Another theory is that Antonia Graza may have suffered from sudden, catastrophic engine room explosion and sank. Some conspiracy theorists believe that aliens were involved. It was rumored in 2002 that an independent salvage team had found the derelict Antonia Graza in the Bering Sea, but the US Coast Guard has never confirmed this.
We’ll never know for sure what happened to Antonia Graza. Her disappearance is just another mystery in the long history of seafaring. Expeditions were launched in 1992 and 2001 to find the wreckage but came up empty handed. What is certain, however, is that 1,128 people aboard Antonia Graza (including the unknown Lorelei survivor) disappeared without a trace on May 21, 1962.
Final Thoughts
The Antonia Graza has been an obsession of mine for years. Her disappearance is a haunting story and it’s hard to believe that such an event ever happened. In fact, it didn’t. This whole story has been inspired by the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship starring Julianna Margulies, Gabriel Byrne, and Emily Browning. Happy April Fools’ Day!
All photographs are screenshots from the movie or production photos that have been edited for a vintage look. The Antonia Graza painting comes from an anonymous member of the Ghost Ship production team (Mario Russo is the Italian equivalent of John Doe in the US and UK). The Italian Line posters are also edited as well; they’re my first foray into Photoshop in years.
I had a lot of fun working on this (if you couldn’t tell). Ghost Ship is one of my favorite horror movies and I’ve had this idea for a long time. Many thanks to my wife, Teresa, for encouraging me to write this. Her cackling while reading the final draft was very rewarding!
References
- Beck, Steve, director. Ghost Ship. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2002. 91 min.
- King, Greg and Penny Wilson. The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria: The Sinking of the World’s Most Glamorous Ship. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2020.