We have not had a This Day in History opening for the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog for some time. So not only is one long overdue but a shipwreck which occurred some 66 years ago makes a great opening for today’s start of a multi-part blog post series on a Federal Anti-Kickback enforcement action which was announced last week, involving the Oregon based medical device manufacturer Biotronik Inc. (Biotronik).
The shipwreck of course was the catastrophe involving the Italian passenger liner the Andrea Doria and the Swedish passenger liner, the Stockholm off the coast of New York on this date in 1956. According to This Day in History, at approximately, 10:45 pm, the Stockholm showed up on the Andrea Doria’s radar screens, at a distance of about 17 nautical miles. Next Andrea Doria showed up on the Stockholm’s radar, at 12 miles away. The Andrea Doria Captain then “exacerbated a dangerous situation by making a turn to port for an unconventional starboard-to-starboard passing, which he wrongly thought the other ship was attempting.” Third Officer Johan-Ernst Bogislaus Carstens, commanding the bridge of the Stockholm, then made a conventional turn to starboard. Andrea Doria Captain Calami realized he was on a collision course with the Stockholm and turned hard to the left, hoping to race past the bow of the Swedish ship but it was too late. Five were killed on the Stockholm and 46 persons on the Andrea Doria died but over 1,600 were rescued. It was one of the final great...
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