Background
In the ensuing confusion, a Stockholm crewman heard her calling for her mother in Spanish, an unusual language on the Swedish ship.
In the ensuing confusion, a Stockholm crewman heard her calling for her mother in Spanish, an unusual language on the Swedish ship.
During the collision, she was somehow lifted out of her bed and onto the Stockholm"s crushed bow, landing safely behind a bulwark as the two ships scraped past each other before separating as the fatally-stricken Andrea Doria disappeared back into the fog. A crewman who spoke Spanish was able to translate. The teen apparently was first to grasp what must have happened, saying to 36-year-old Bernabe Polanco Garcia, "I was on the Andrea Doria.
Where am I now?"
The sister sleeping in the adjoining bed in Linda"s cabin was killed, one of 50 passengers and crew who died in the impact areas on the two ships.
After all the surviving passengers and crew were evacuated by several rescue ships (most notably the Steamship Ile de France), the Andrea Doria capsized and sank the next morning. With ships of several nations transporting survivors, communication of news to the waiting families was difficult.
Linda"s father, American Broadcasting Company Radio Network news commentator Edward P. Morgan, was based in New York City. Linda, who suffered a broken arm, was quickly dubbed the "miracle girl" by the news media as the story of her survival and the circumstances spread.
She returned to New York City aboard the crippled Stockholm, where she was reunited with her mother and her father.
Edward Morgan then made another memorable broadcast less able to conceal his emotions, describing the difference between reporting the news about strangers and his own loved ones, and describing also the extremes of despair, joy, and gratitude that he had experienced. Linda Morgan was admitted to Saint Vincent"s Hospital in New York, where her broken arm was placed in traction. When Polanco, her Spanish-speaking crewman benefactor, was on a weekend leave from the Stockholm, he went to the hospital to pay a visit.
Then Linda"s father, who had also worked in Mexico, greeted him with a hearty embrace.
"Hombre, hombre" said Mr. Morgan, "Manitoba, man how can I ever thank you?"
Linda moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1970.
Her husband since 1968, Philosophy Hardberger, became Mayor of San Antonio in June 2005.
