Not the first successful ditching of a jet transport. JAL landed a DC-8 (nearly new) off SFO Nov 1968, and UAL recovered the aircraft and rehabbed it. JAL continued to fly it for several years.
As I recall, that incident was not an intentional ditching, gear down, no warning, and many of the passengers didn't even realize they had landed in the water. Water depth there was also quite shallow, and the plane's gear was touching the bottom. Or am I thinking of another similar incident at SFO?