| BARON GAUTSCH |
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The steamship Baron Gautsch was launched on water in 1908 from the shipyard in Dundee in Scotland. The ship was custom
built for the Austrian company Lloyd, which put the steamship, together with its sester ships Prinz Hohenlohe and Baron
Bruck, on the dalmatian quick line since 16.06.1908. The ship was named after the baron Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn,
who was the prime minister of the c. and k. monarchy in the end of the 19th century.
After outbreak of the First World War, the steamship was rented on 27.7.1914 by the c. and k. military fleet for
transport of reinforcements to Kotor. While rented, the steamship realized 4 voyages in total, covered 1810 nautical
miles and transported 2855 persons. On the way back, it usually evacuated population to northern Istrija. After
fulfilling its mission, Baron Gautsch was returned to the company Lloyd in Kotor on 11.08.1914. On 13.08.1914, approx.
at 11:00, the ship departed from the port Veli Lošinj. Since leaving the port until arriving at Pula, the officer
Luppis was on duty, but he handed the duty over to the second officer Tenze - without consent of the commander – and
went to have lunch with the passengers of the first class. Seven nautical miles north of the Brion Islands, around 14:
50, the steamship Baron ran into a minefield at full speed and it sank within six minutes. The balance of the distater
was terrifying: 159 passengers were rescued by the ships Csepel, Triglav and Balaton,which rushed to their help. 68 dead
bodies were drawn out. 177 people, among them women and children, who should have been transported from the islands to
Terst, drowned or died in boiling oil. |
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| EXPEDITION "BARON GAUTSCH" |
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The expedition Baron Gautsch took place in two phases, in April and in June of
2006, for the purpose of taking photographic and film shots for he television
documentary cycle about shipwrecks from the 1st World War. The whole stage crew
participated in it, with several cameras and with a sound engineer, so that even
unique reportages and interviews were made, for example in the naval cemetery
Kriegsmarine in Pula, in the naval museum in Terst, in the club of Italian
modellers of military ships and in the military fortress in Pula. During eight
dives to the shipwreck, virtually the entire ship was thoroughly documented both
from inside and outside. The expedition was prepared and led by Miloš Pilař,
technical provision was prepared in cooperation with the headquarters of the
SSI Adriatic Group in Rovinja and the base IGC DIVING PRAHA. |
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