Linda Morgan

Who is Linda Morgan?

Linda Morgan, now known as Linda Hardberger, became known as the "miracle girl" following the collision of two large passenger ships in the North Atlantic Ocean on the foggy night of July 25, 1956.

The 14-year-old girl was sharing a two-bed cabin with her younger half-sister on the S.S. Andrea Doria when the ship was struck broadside by the prow of the MS Stockholm. 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.

In the ensuing confusion, a Stockholm crewman heard her calling for her mother in Spanish, an unusual language on the Swedish ship. 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.