The ship used by the filmmakers was the S.S. Ile de France, the famous French liner which cruised the Atlantic from 1926 to 1959. She was leased for $4,000 a day. After shooting completed, she was re-floated (having been partially sunk for the film) and was towed to the scrap yard. The SS Ile de France has a more heroic place in history, however. It was the SS Ile de France that played a major role in the rescue of the passengers from the Italian liner Andrea Dorea in 1956, after the latter ship collided with the Swedish ship Stockholm off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The SS Ile de France was the first ship to arrive at the scene of the collision and immediately began taking onboard the Andrea Dorea's passengers.
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