Wrecks
I'm mainly interested in the wrecks in the Adriatic Sea around Istria.
Not at least because this area is not far from my hometown.
My favorite is the "Baron Gautsch".
There are several reasons for it. It was the first wreck I ever dove. It
lays upright on the ground and the upper decks are so disintegrated, that
much light is available up there. The wreck is large enough to see something
new everytime especially when going further inside. The bad news are the
depth (28-40m) and the long boat trip (from Rovinj 45-90min).
History:
The
luxury passenger liner sailed under the flag of the Austrian Lloyd. Its
name was given after baron Paul Gautsch, who comes from Carinthia and was
Prime Minister and Minister of education of the K&K Monarchy from 1907
until 1908. The 80m ship was built 1908 and sailed the Adriatic Sea. In
the beginning of the 1st World War 1914 it should bring back summer holiday-maker
and families of military personal to Austria. With 240 passengers and 66
crew men the Baron Gautsch is on its way from Dalmatia to Triest on the
13th of august, 1914. By making a navigational error the ship gets into
a minefield of the own navy. About 14:45 the explosion of a sea mine struck
the ship 7 miles north of Brioni. The oil pouring out of the burst tanks
caught fire and is responsible for most of the victims. Only 7min afterwards
the ship sunk. 147 persons died, 159 could be rescued. The message of the
disaster was suppressed because of political reasons.
More wrecks in this area:
- Italian destroyer "Giuseppe Dezza", built 1913, sunk by a mine on 17.8.1944, depth 33m
- Woodwreck, name unknown, length about 35m, depth 37m, many fish !
- Maono Wreck, freighter with cargo of coal, depth about 34m
- freighter, name unknown, length about 120m, depth 38m
- freighter, shorter than the last (70m), may possibly "Romana Genova", depth 38m, built before 1900
- Coreolanus, english 2nd World War trawler, hit a sea mine the day Mussolini died, depth 32m, for some people the most interesting wreck
- passenger-freighter, presumably "Istra", collided with the ital. ship Capraia 1898, the bow resting 20m in front of the main part, nice propeller, length about70m, width 8m, depth 40m