B17G 44-6630

Diving in Viz, Croatia was no accident, I heard, whilst diving the Baron Gautsch (out of Pula in 2015), that there was an Island down the coast which had several wrecks, some of them WWII Aircraft, and I could not have let that go without investigation. I was also directed to an I-Pad app written on the wrecks of Croatia by a local diver Danijel Frka, it turned out to be far too tempting, with half a dozen of the wrecks around Viz featured, I couldn’t resist, especially as one of those wrecks was a B17 Flying Fortress that had only just been discovered and was, if Danijel’s illustration was to be believed, almost pristine. I’d recently dived a Messerschmitt BF109G off Crete, and my profound sense of physical connection to history was clearly not confined to shipwrecks, I had the same feeling touching the downed Messerchsmitt that I had with every shipwreck I have dived

The B17 is one of those Aircraft, like the Spitfire, or the Lancaster, that truly deserve to be called “Iconic”, designed by the American company Boeing, it was the largest heavy bomber of the European Theater in WWII. The B17 prototype design was completed in the 1930’s and eventually introduced to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) as Model 299 in 1938. The B17 was capable of high altitude, 3000m for up to 10 hours with a bomb load of 2200Kg, and it was fast, flying at 400Kmh with a range of around 3200Km…….It earned the nickname “Flying Fortress” from a reporter’s piece (Richard Williams) in the Seattle Times, when described as “…..a 15-Ton flying fortress” (Freeman, R.A: “B-17 Fortress at war” P8. Doubleday, New York, 1974). Clearly the armaments of the prototype, five 30 calibre (7.62mm) machine guns, one in a nose turret, one behind the cockpit, one either side of the fuselage set in metal & Plexi-glass “Blisters” and a final gun under the body, had impressed Williams at the Boeing press review the day before its inaugural flight, 28^th July of 1935 at the USAAC evaluation preliminaries

The B17 finally went into service, with what had become the United States Army Air Force or “USAAF”, after several improvements, including a change of engines from the original Pratt & Whitney R-1690 to Wright R-1820-39’s and, in 1937, the B17-B variants were fitted with GE Superchargers allowing the B17 to reach a further 8000m of altitude taking her capability to 38000m. Full scale production of the Boeing B17 B variants commenced in 1937 and Boeing would eventually reach the highest ever output of a large aircraft, averaging 14-15 B17’s per day, although it isn’t clear if that was from a single production line as B17’s were produced by Boeing, Lockheed and Douglas under contract to the USAAF

The outbreak of WWII in 1939 and the subsequent attempts to have the USA join in support of Britain and her allies Poland, Belgium and France, against Germany and the Axis countries Austria and Italy, went unheeded until Japan entered the war in spectacular fashion by attacking the US fleet and air-base in Honolulu, Hawaii, specifically “Pearl Harbour”, 07^th December of 1941. It should be noted the USA had been giving assistance to Britain in the year before under “Lend Lease” an arrangement, whereby US equipment was essentially “loaned” or “leased” to the Allies at favourable terms, and many American citizens had already taken it upon themselves to travel to the UK to enlist and serve in the fight against the Nazi’s. The first B17’s arrived on Lend Lease in 1940 when 20 were transferred to the RAF and used on a raid on the German Kriegsmarine (Navy) port of Wilhelmshaven, 08^th July of 1941

The raid did not achieve much, the B17’s were flown high and their guns froze, worse still, the bomb runs missed most of the targets and the British relegated the B17’s (which they had designated “Fortress 1”) to coastal duties. The aircraft shortfalls were fed back to Boeing and modifications were quickly made, including the most advanced aiming system using the “Norden” Mk XV bombsight, a stabilized unit that automatically adjusted the aim without the need for human calculation, which could take control of the Aircraft during the bomb run from the Bomb Aimers position in the nose of the B17’s……. although definitely not as accurate as claimed by Norden (accurate to 23m), it was certainly better than earlier bomb aiming sights averaging accuracy around 370m (On Line resource: Wikipedia “Norden bombsight”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norden_bombsight Accessed: 06/10/22) .  It would not be until 1942 that the B17 would “officially” join the war in Europe, when 12 B17-E’s of the 97^th Bomb Group, flew to Rouen, France, 17^th August of 1942 to bomb railway marshalling yards there

Specifications B-17G Flying Fortress

By 1943 the B17 had established itself as the pre-eminent daylight bomber of the war, the RAF keeping to night raids to reduce the loss of valuable aircraft to as few as possible. The American 8^th Airforce, then commanded by Lieutenant General James Doolittle  (famed for planning & leading the Doolittle B25 Raid on Tokyo, Japan April 18 1942, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour), continued to prefer daytime raids, which they believed gave better chance of success aiming their bomb runs, the escort fighters could only protect the B17’s to the German coast, or a little beyond, before having to return to re-fuel and join the returning bombers over the channel, this left the B17’s vulnerable to German fighters as well as the Flak over their targets.

The loss of 60 B17’s raiding Schweinfurt’s ball bearing factories in August of 1943 and a further loss of 60 B17’s in a second raid on Schweinfurt in October of 1943 forced a re-think, (overall in October of 1943, the USAAF lost 176 bombers) and long distance raids were curtailed until longer range Mustang P51’s, fitted with additional underwing fuel tanks, could escort the bombers throughout the whole raid, reducing the casualties significantly

The B17 had been given a rather dubious reputation in the press as an almost “impregnable” battle titan, perhaps because of the legendary B17’s that had managed to struggle back across the Channel in appalling condition, and in states that defied all logic as to how they had maintained flight in such terrible circumstances. Damage from a collision with a Messerschmitt BF109 over Tunisia February 01^st of 1943 had left the B17 “All American III” with its tail literally hanging on by prayers alone. Pilot Kendrick Bragg Jnr had completed his bomb run on Bizerte & Tunis and was returning to base at Biskra in Algeria when two BF109’s attacked from head on. One was downed by machine gun fire, likely a combination from the All American’s and her “wing” B17’s forward gunners

That BF109 is reported as being flown by Oberleutnant Julius Meimburg who was serving with JG 53 (but from II JG 2) and who was wounded in the attack, the second ME109 is believed to have been flown by Eric Paczia of II JG 53 (On Line resource “12 O’Clock High: II/JG 2 Tunisia 1 Feb 1943” Etgen, L. 09/01/2014 16:04. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/archive/index.php?t-36402.html Accessed 06/10/22) where Leo Etgen states “1 February 1943: Feldwebel Erich Paczia of 6./JG 53 killed in Bf 109 G-4/Trop “Yellow 1” (W.Nr. 16 093) in aerial combat with B-17 four-engined bombers over Pont-du-Fahs….” Which includes reference to “Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 – 1945”. The BF109 of Erich Paczia began attacking from the front of the All American III, it took fire during the attack and, as it broke off to roll out over the All American, Paczia, perhaps incapacitated, or dead, lost control & it’s wing struck the tail section of the B17 causing the loss of the Messerschmitt & Paczia, who was later recovered & buried in Bordj-Cedria War Cemetery, Ben Arous, Tunisia

Bombardier on the All American III, Ralph Burbridge, recalled in an interview with “The Waterland Blog” (Nichols, R. in the B Town Blog: https://b-townblog.com/2012/09/21/local-b-17-bombardier-recalls-wing-and-a-prayer-mission-on-the-all-american/  On Line Resource, Accessed 08/10/22) in 2012 “When the German pilot was about 300 yards away he began a roll to pull down and away from the All American after his attack, but about halfway through his roll either my fire or fire from the lead ship must have killed the pilot or disabled the plane. He never completed his intended roll and rapid pass under our ship, for one horrible instant he was right there – inches in front and above us. He passed over us with a distinctly audible swoosh followed by a tremendous jar and a whoomp.’”

The All American III landed back at her base, the tail section holding even through the landing itself, and the All American III was not the only “miracle” that built the reputation of the B17 for taking incredible damage but managing to return home. 20^th December 1943 on a raid over Bremen, Germany, in B17 “Ye Old Pub”, 2^nd Lt Charles L Brown was piloting his first ever combat mission with 527^th Bomb Squadron when attacked by the anti-aircraft Flak gunners surrounding the heavily defended city. The B17 was hit in the nose on its bombing run taking out its nose gun and bomb aiming position, also damaging it’s No 2 and No 4 engines, leaving it still flying, but crippled and almost defenceless as only 2 of the 11 guns remained operable, although it is not clear if that was due to crew injuries or battle damage

I have not found a verified photo of “Ye Old Pub” despite extensive searching, however the one above (digitally cleaned up a little, simply marked “Damaged B-17 Flying Fortress 8AF”) carries damage consistent with Charles Brown’s B17, and, where all similar I have found can be identified as “other” aircraft, I cannot discount this one as a “possible”. Charles Brown’s ill-fated B17 was trailing well behind the main group of aircraft on the return from Bremen to England, and was attacked by 15 Luftwaffe fighters, managing to fight off the attack, downing one of the attackers and damaging, if not downing a second. It would seem Ye Old Pub had finally run out of luck when Luftwaffe Pilot Franz Stigler finished re-arming and re-fuelling his BF109 and had scrambled to meet it…….

Stigler recalled after the war (Williams, J “Franz Stigler, Charlie Brown, And a Friendship Born From The Horror Of War” in https://allthatsinteresting.com/franz-stigler-charlie-brown On Line resource: Accessed 08/10/22), “When I got near it, I could see that there was much damage to the nose and tail sections. I flew in behind the plane, and I could see the gunner lying across his machine guns. There was a huge hole in the side of the fuselage, and the rudder was almost blown away. It was in very bad shape” Stigler, in an unparalleled act of mercy, at a time when it would have been simple to finish off the crippled B17, instead chose to escort the aircraft until it was over the channel and safe from further attack, he said of the incident “To me, it was just like they were in a parachute. I saw them and I couldn’t shoot them down”. Franz Stigler’s act of Chivalry, one that could easily have seen him shot as a betrayer of Nazi Germany,  meant 9 of the 10 crew of Ye Old Pub (although some, including Charlie Brown, were badly wounded), would survive the raid, sadly tail gunner Hugh Eckenrode had been killed over Bremen. Both Pilots searched each other out following the end of WWII, it is a testament to the futility of war, and to the spirit of humanity, that both became good friends for what remained of their lives, Franz Stigler & Charles Brown both dying within months of each other in 2008. Those of you who, like me, love the details of such stories can find the full account in Adam Makos’ book “A Higher Call” (ISBN -10 178239253X)

Now to our aircraft and it’s story, B17G 44-6630 was brand new when she was delivered to 340^th Bomb Squadron, 97^th Bomb Group, 15^th Air Force, at Amendola in Italy 03 November of 1944. There was no time to name her or even paint her in unit colours when Pilot Irving G Emerson & Co-Pilot Ernest Vienneau took ownership, and her crew checked her out for the up-coming raid. Her first mission would be 3 days later, 06^th November of 1944 and she was destined to bomb Vienna, the standby target would be the heavily defended railway junction at Maribor, Slovenia. Vienna had been hit hard the day before, by 500 B24’s and B17’s of the 15^th Air Force, their target was the Floridsdorf Oil Refinery, it was the largest ever raid against a single target of WWII (“Mediterranean Theatre of Operations (MTO): WWII, Strategic Operations (Fifteenth Air Force” On Line resource. https://www.aircrewremembered.com/USAAFCombatOperations/Nov.44.html Accessed 10/10/2022) On the 06th November, bad weather over Vienna as they arrived would mean Irving Emerson & Ernest Vienneau would be bombing the Railyard at Maribor

Apparently Military Intelligence believed Maribor was only lightly defended, as is often the case this turned out not to be true. Maribor had been annexed by Hitler back in 1941 and had been defended and fortified to protect its rail infrastructure and lines with many 88 and 105 anti-aircraft installations

Maribor would be targeted 22 times between January of 1944 and April of 1945 (Radovanovic, S: “Maribor Pod Toco Bomb Taborisce Smrti” Online Resource: http://www.zalozbaroman.si/maribor_pod.pdf Accessed 10/10/2022), the Drava River Rail bridges were an important target and it was known there were prisoner of war internments in the area with Allied and Russian PoW’s held captive

Following Hitler’s annexation of Maribor in 1941 there had been ongoing elimination programmes against the local Slovenian population, prisoners not executed directly were also held in the area, but none of this would stop Maribor from being targeted by the Allies, it was crucial to prevent Germany from having any chance of moving troops or equipment at this point in the war. The raids went well for the Allied Bomb Groups as the aftermath, with the bomb hits of 1944-1945 marked over the area of Maribor (below) show

Although the B17’s had a reputation as “tough to kill”, and despite being heavily defended from almost every direction, they were still vulnerable, as the losses of Schweinfurt and the early raids had shown. Losses continued from the introduction of the B17 in 1940 with the RAF and then through the later war years with the US Airforce. You can see the effect of battle damage on the photo of a B17 looking back along the fuselage from the cockpit (below)

While the B17’s were state of the art aircraft for the time, they were commanded by real inputs from the pilots hands and feet via control cables, rods & linkages, it didn’t take much for a Flak explosion to sever cables as can be seen hanging from the top left of the photo, likely a rudder control cable for the tail-planes or rudder itself. It can also be seen that hydraulic pipework was vulnerable too, there is a major dent in what looks like an oil pipe (could be cable ducting) and a thinner, perhaps hydraulic pipe below has been hit too, all this from debris blown inwards from attacking enemy fire or exploding ordnance fired from the ground defence installations during an attack in September of 1944 

For our B17G the November 06^th raid was little short of a nightmare, a Flak explosion in front of the aircraft mortally wounded Co-Pilot Ernest Vienneau, shrapnel from the blast leaving Irving Emerson in sole control. The B17’s hydraulics were damaged and one of her four Wright R1820-97’s, Engine No 3, caught fire. Emerson shut off fuel to the engine, feathered the prop and activated the Fire Extinguishing equipment on that engine which, luckily, still functioned and shut the fire down. By now Emerson had flown out of the formation and made the decision to head for the emergency airstrip at Viz, the Navigator, Bruce MacFarland, worked the heading, passed the details to Emerson and he headed the B17 out towards the Croatian coastline

Holding the B17 in the air on three engines was no little thing, it would take Irving Emerson all his skills and no small amount of luck too to maintain the course for Viz, an emergency airfield held from the Nazi’s by partisans of Tito’s resistance fighters throughout WWII, and, by 1943, Tito’s main operational base for planning attacks on Italian and then Nazi troops and strongholds (“Tito’s Cave” sits just a mile or so from the end of the emergency airstrip to this day and is marked as a tourist attraction seeing military tours every week). Things would get worse for Emerson and his crew during the odyssey, everything that could be jettisoned was, to lighten the aircraft and reduce the fuel needed to get as far as Viz, at some point in the flight they lost a second engine leaving them flying on two

Approaching the airfield Emerson circled to assess the best option to land, his hydraulics had been hit and only one wheel would deploy despite the efforts of his crew to lower the second, as Emerson was making his approach another engine died and it became clear the B17 wasn’t going to make the airfield. At this point, apparently unknown to Emerson, there were issues on the ground, the airfield had sent up a Red flare to warn the B17 off (stories have it they did not want a wreck on the runway as there were several other expected landings), unaware, and with the third engine now dead, and worse yet, rapidly running out of fuel, Emerson turned the stricken B17 parallel to the shore and ditched perfectly into the Adriatic, his B17 miraculously in one piece and his crew safe (Emerson, I.G. “Interview with Irving G. Emerson” Veterans History Project. Online Resource: Accessed 11/10/2022)

Local fishermen had seen the aircraft as it circled the emergency landing strip, several had taken their boats out when it was clear the B17 was unlikely to make it, Emerson and the other 9 of his crew were rescued and taken to shore safely, only Ernest Vienneau, his body having been moved to the bomb aimers position in the aircraft for the flight to Viz, would remain on the B17 as she took on water and sank

Ernest Vienneau had been hit in the head by shrapnel and was seriously injured, by the time the B17 reached Viz Irving Emerson believes he was dead, although Merrle Sieling, Starboard Gunner on the aircraft is quoted in one account as having said “When I jumped into the sea, the nose of the aircraft was sinking. I heard the copilot moaning in the cabin, so I hurried back. But I was too late, the aircraft had sank. My clock had stopped, showing 13:30” (“History and War B-17G Wreck Near Viz” https://historyandwar.org/2022/07/31/b-17g-wreck-near-vis/ Online Resource: Accessed 11/10/2022)

Hearing there was a B17 in such condition and off a country I was already familiar with, and had managed to convince Ellie (my wife) to visit, gave me an opportunity to explore her tolerance with my obsession with diving. I suggested an “island holiday” a little off the beaten track, where there were still far fewer tourists to contend with, in a country she had visited, which was only a couple of hours flight time away….it didn’t take long for Ellie to start looking at the island of Viz and possible hotels (thin on the ground) and….more interestingly, something called “Air BnB’s” whatever that might be….Ellie has always been the more adventurous of the two of us when it comes to holidays! It wasn’t long until we had a holiday suite booked on the other side of Viz Island in Komiza, a small fishing village more recently used as a holiday destination for Croatians, and the odd German or Italian adventurer, and more often, the yacht fleet-hire aficionados! As I mentioned earlier, we had visited Pula back in October of 2015 (see the “Best Ever Dives” section of this blog) to dive the Baron Gautsch, I had sold that holiday to Ellen based on my memory that late season was pretty warm in Croatia until November set in, it hadn’t been as warm as expected to be honest and a little rain had dampened Ellie’s enthusiasm for so late a trip, but as I had taken her to Mexico in February and the Red Sea in August, she had been sanguine about it, although in planning Viz, Ellie was determined it would be no later than September that we went this time

It would turn out to be an abortive attempt to dive the B17 in September of 2016, despite having spent time looking at three dive centres in Komiza, the first two discounted by a process of elimination, they were not as kitted up as I’d like for a dive of 70 plus metres, neither having twin manifolded cylinder sets for hire, nor on-site Tri-Mix facilities, but the third, Manta Dive Centre, at the extreme of the bay, that was a different matter entirely. Fully kitted for technical diving, rebreather s catered for, everything now aligned nicely and Andi & Aniska, the brother & sister owners of the dive centre were both helpful and professional from the off, with information about pre-lim dives to build up to the B17 and slots I could fit into, first being the Vassilios T, formerly the Eastern Temple, a wreck lying from 20m down to 50m, ideal to settle in to the area and a new wreck to explore….perfect…..or it should have been had a tooth not practically (it seemed at the time) imploded at around 28m whilst finning down the wreck’s Starboard side…….Thus ended the 2016 expedition, and all diving until I could get a replacement filling completed back in the UK

The abortive dive of 2016 did not lessen my desire to dive the B17, but it would be another three years wait before I could return to Viz, in July of 2019! I had arranged with Andi Marovic to have a twinset and sidemount available at Manta diving, I book in advance as Andi has a busy schedule with divers from Germany, Italy and, more recently, from the USA coming across to dive…… As in 2016 I started with Vassilios T and moved from her on to Theti, another local wreck to Manta, both wrecks built up nicely to follow on to the B17 on a light Tri-Mix of 16/45 with 50% as deco, my new Blue Log takes up the narrative: “16/07/2019 B17 G KOMIZA CROATIA B17G Flying Fortress (Boeing) which narrowly survived a raid over Nazi occupied Europe, losing one crew member to flak & being flown on 3 engines trying to land on Viz which was a partisan stronghold & emergency landing strip – Flagged off on landing its last engine died & it was ditched on final approach which was the saving of all other crew – a superb piece of flying in the circumstances! A deep dive, my first Tri-Mix for 15 years plus – apprehension was high but the dive went perfectly, a great descent to the cockpit, a fly down the hull Port to Starbord round the tail then across both wings & up to deco! Bloody Marvellous dive! Buddies Andi & Franco, Air In 230 Out 100”

  It shows that the dive was a stunner, the usual descriptive has definitely ramped up even for someone who tries to remain objective rather than effusive! I took the time to include the story as I often do on a first dive (and sometimes forget I have done on subsequent dives to a wreck), but I was also keen not to lose sight of the drama of the B17 wreck, however briefly. I also mention my apprehension at a deep tri-mix dive after 15 years or so without using the gas, there’s a lesson there, I am happy to be apprehensive, it keeps my preparation & execution focussed. Tri-Mix is a serious gas, misuse can (and will) seriously ruin your dive and your day, and if you are not careful a bunch of days afterwards…….

Suffice to say, I do not get enough opportunity to deep dive these days, and so build-up and preparation I take very seriously, every time. It doesn’t help that Andi considers me a dinosaur for using open circuit tri-mix, all his other tri-mix divers are on rebreathers. You will pick up why I am not still on a rebreather elsewhere in this blog if you look, nothing sinister, just my perspective….and I will remain a dinosaur until my last breath….which won’t be on a rebreather, I assure you Andi!

The preservation of the B17 is remarkable after 70 plus years underwater, there are 3 dive centres locally that dive her, all are aware she is an important draw for their businesses so all will hopefully continue to ensure Irving Emerson’s amazing achievement saving his crew and, almost, his aircraft, after defying such desperate circumstances, remains in the condition she is in today. I returned to dive her this year (2022) in August, the Blue Book records the dive: “30/08/22 B17 MANTA/KOMIZA Return to the B17 which was long overdue! A drop down the shot & gas switch @ 18m from 50% to 17/46 then on down to the Aircraft sat in a haze with her tail & rudder just visible from the cockpit & wings. This time just a photo scan of the wings & engines then a run front to tail on her Starbord side to take a look in the mid-gunners position then to the tail & a run back up her fuselage to peak in the hull half way up – on up to deco for 25 mins Superb dive! Air in 200 Out 140” 

I hope I can continue to return to dive to her silent resting place in the Adriatic, where B17G 44-6630 sits in the Blue, a monument to the heroism of those who flew, despite knowing the odds of return were stacked heavily against them, many of them never to return…….In total, the 8th Air Force received 6,500 B-17G’s, by the end of the war a total 1,301 B-17G’s had been shot down or reported missing in action

This Piece is dedicated to the memory of those crews mentioned in its lines, and to all of those unmentioned who gave their lives partly or completely to fight for the freedoms we take for granted…..All gave some…..Some gave All!

At the going down of the Sun….And In the Morning……

B17 Crews

Franz Stigler & Charlie Brown’s own account of Ye-Old Pubs Mission from their first meeting in 2012

Irving Emerson’s own account of the 44-6630 mission: Veteran’s History Project recording from 2011

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.20754/mv0001001.stream

As ever I am indebted to those whose excellent photographs have made this piece what it is, Franco Banfi, Martin Strmiska, Saso Radovanovic and, although I can’t positively confirm it I believe Steve Jones photo appears too

Why Not Join Me Diving B17G 44-6630

SS Brioni

The Steamship Brioni was built for Österreichischer Lloyd of Trieste, as a mixed passenger-cargo ship, in the shipyard Cantiere Navale Triestino (CNT) in Monfalcone. The Brioni was launched in December 1909 and was to sail the coastal routes of the Adriatic, from Trieste to Dalmatia and Albania transporting passengers and cargo alike. Brioni was a typical coastal steamship of her day, small enough to access the sometimes compact ports of the Adriatic Islands and multi-purpose to make best financial advantage of trade and passengers to the benefit of her owners. Brioni would probably be best be described as “unremarkable” for all intents and purposes, a somewhat disingenuous term for such a workhorse, but as you will see, somewhat prescient……. 

Even the yard which laid her keel and built her, 30 kilometres west of Trieste (on the shores of a somewhat unhealthy, recently reclaimed swamp at Panzano), on the seafront of Monfalcone, had little to commend it other than its availability, its proximity to a local workforce and the high price of ships from British Shipyards in a falling Austro-Hungarian economy. Brioni was a ship of her time, not built for the glamour of the Italian migration across to the America’s, and not yet the child of growing international tourism in the soon to become glamorous Adriatic archipelago’s, but a solid and functional steamship, as capable of carrying passengers to Constantinople as lumber and fine wines to Split, and the home ports of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The decision to construct a shipyard on the Panzano seafront overlooked by Falcon Mountain (Monfalcone) was taken by the Cosulich Brothers of Mali Losinj, part of an Island chain south of the Istrian city of Pula, itself a port of call for Osterreicher Lloyd with a broad promenade and large natural harbor

In 1852, the Cosulich brothers Antonio, Gaspare and Marco, bought the sail ships Gloria and Marco and ordered a third, two-masted sailing ship from a shipyard in Fiume, naming her Elena Cosulich after their mother. Fortune favoured the Cosulich family, the Crimean War had compelled the French and the English to charter almost any ship available in the region to support the campaign against Russia and the Cosulich ships were used, almost exclusively and at very high charter rates for almost two years, this income enabled the Cosulich brothers to add to their fleet and led to increasing success. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and now based out of Trieste (the leading trade city for merchants, insurers, ship-owners and everything connected with the shipping trades), the Cosulich Shipping line was going from success to success. By 1907, under the Cosulich brothers Callisto and Alberto, the Cosulich fleet consisted of 24 sea-going steamers and a harbour tug (Italianliners.com “Cosulich line, History” Online resource: Accessed 21/10/2021), but a worsening of international economic conditions, and a fall of the Austrian currency against the British pound, meant buying ships from the British shipyards was no longer economically viable, and the family decided to develop their own shipyard. Oscar Cosulich, Callisto’s son, and Arturo Rebulla, the mayor of Monfalcone, were school friends, Rebulla offered Cosulich the swamp at Panzano, on the seafront of Monfalcone, to be reclaimed to become the site of the Cosulich shipyard

Local contracting companies, Faccanoni and Adriatica, had excavated large basins there to recover earth for the construction of the port of Trieste (“Shipyard History, Cantiere Navale Triestino (CNT)” Online resource: muca.elemind.com/en/shipyard-history/ Accessed 21/10/2021) as the area was also close to the Valentinis Canal, with fresh water coming from the Dottori Canal, it made the area ideal for ship construction. On the 3rd April, 1908 the shipyard was inaugurated, becoming the Cantiere Navale Triestino (CNT). The Cosulich brothers were innovators and philanthropic too, they not only planned the shipyard but a company town complete with houses for married workers, hostels for unmarried employees, schools and even recreation facilities such as a theatre and sporting clubs. Monfalcone was very similar, it would seem, to Port Sunlight (1888) or Bourneville (1900) in England, and Cosulich even invited three Scottish managers from Russell & Co (the shipyard where many of their earlier vessels had been launched), to join them as managers, fitting out their workshops with the most high-tech machinery of the times

It is at this point, 1908, when the Monfalcone shipyard produces its first ship, albeit seemingly unannounced, for the Cosulich Brothers, under the direction of Scottish engineer James Stewart, (former technical inspector of the Austrian Union of Navigation), and chief engineer, Andrew Munroe. With the two Scottish Engineers came two hundred skilled workers, arriving from the United Kingdom to complete the Iron & Steelwork

(Carnemolla, S.E. “Monfalcone, history of a shipyard” Online Resource: https://doi.org/10.4000/diacronie. 2584 Accessed 21/10/2021), although the riveters were said to be local Istrians, and the carpentry was carried out using local tradespeople too. When it comes to recorded detail of the early ships out of Monfalcone Yard, there is scant detail available, despite research requests to the archives of several of the local sources in Italy the only record of the named ships produced in those first years at Monfalcone (Carnemolla, S.E. “Monfalcone, history of a shipyard, 2. The first passenger units” Online Resource:  https:// doi.org/ 10.4000/ diacronie. 2584 Accessed 21/10/2021) are:

“Between the spring and summer of 1908 the Trieste and the Split were set on the ports, two mixed steamers of 896 GRT ordered at the Shipyard by the Società Anonima di Navigazione a Vapore Dalmatia”

And:

“In 1909 it was the turn of the Nereide, a cargo steamer of 3,405 GRT for the Tommaso Cossovich Società Anonima di Navigazione a Vapore of Trieste”

Now the only conclusion that seems reasonable as the two “…. set on the ports, two mixed steamers of 896 GRT….” noted to be during spring/summer of 1908, which means that Brioni could have only followed them shortly after, as  Brioni was launched in 1909 out of the Monfalcone yard and, seemingly, without either fanfare or mention. I had thought it a reasonable assumption, in the circumstances, that the Brioni was, to use the expression, “set on the ports” either late in 1908 or very early in 1909, I was lucky enough to receive confirmation from Signor Nereo Castelli of the Associazione Marinara Aldebaran in Trieste, that the actual date for the Brioni Order was 12^th of July of 1908. A little further digging did surface a series of documents from the museum at Monfalcone and their archivist who chose to remain anonymous under the admin banner “Amministrazione Posta Elettronica Beniculturali” but to whom I extend my gratitude for the wonderful documents sent on, only some of which are used here

The certificate and documents of registration for Brioni, built and registered to the Cosulich Brothers subsidiary, the Società Anonima di Navigazione a Vapore Del Lloyd. It is clear that the fortune of the Cosulich brothers was still in the ascendancy at this point, Stefania Elena Carnemolla goes on to throw a focus on the future ambitions of Callisto and Alberto: 

“In 1910 the Cosulich obtained from Vienna a state subsidy agreement for the shipping line with Argentina. It was in this context that the Kaiser Franz Joseph I was born, a passenger steamer of 12,567 GRT for the Austrian Navigation Union. From the traditional and elegant external line, bow to tagliamare, slightly inclined, elliptical stern, central formwork surmounted by two large chimneys, subsequently lowered, the Kaiser Franz Joseph I, with three classes, was launched on September 9, 1911 in the presence of Maria Gioseffa and Massimiliano, archdukes of Austria……”

Perhaps the Brioni pretty much slipped under the Radar in 1909 because Callisto and Alberto had bigger concerns, perhaps the opportunities of the coastal Adriatic trades were wearing a little thin by now, perhaps, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire seemed about to expand its horizons beyond European shores? Nonetheless, the Brioni was launched 12^th of February 1909 and fitted out at Split between then and the 12^th of May of 1909 and, again, there is little if anything to announce her launch. Whatever the reason, the Brioni continued her humble path through to the Levant and served the Consorzio di Navigazione a Vapore of Trieste well, carrying passengers and cargo along the Adriatic coastal routes, from Trieste to Pula and Split, even to Brioni itself perhaps……

For those of you obsessed by detail;

The original documents held in the Trieste Maritime Archives are far more interesting to anyone with a love of the arcane, and a connection with those yellowed and handwritten entries, buried, deep, in the ledgers of companies long since faded from the memory of most of the world, but still there, a tenuous and wonderful connection with the colossal empires which, when they clashed, brought half a world to its knees…….

There are some details which allow a wider view of Brioni’s career between her launch and her loss in 1930 and I am very grateful to the former archivist of the Museo del Mare in Trieste, Signor Stelio Zoratto who provided me with the information available for the known movements of the Brioni, these are hardly a comprehensive lexicon for a ship carrying out two or three journey’s a week for some 21 years of service however many of the records for the Osterreichischer Lloyd company and her various iterations, Lloyd Austriaco, Societa Anonima di Navigazione a Vapore and Lloyd Triestino, were held in archives heavily bombed during the second world war, although there are bound to be more detailed accounts somewhere in the Austro-Hungarian libraries and various official halls of records. It would probably require an Italian or German national, with a great deal of time on their hands, in order to uncover more than I have managed, between the various museums and maritime archives I have been privileged to have the assistance of for this piece:

Museo del Mare, Trieste Records:

There is a brief mention of the 08:1914 “Seetransportleitung” requisition buried in a piece about the Hungaro-Croatia Sea Steamship Co Ltd (1892-1921) which references two “older steamers” one of which, by the Museo del Mare account, is very likely to have been the Brioni (Horvath. J “Hungaro-Croatian Sea Steamship Co. Ltd. (Ungaro-Croata), 1892-1921” On line resource: https://hajoregiszter.hu/tarsasag/tengeri/magyar_horvat _tengeri_gozhajozasi_rt__ungaro-croata_/ 46?nyelv=en Accessed 23/10/2021)  “Fortunately, the Seetransportleitung set up in Fiume did not make use of this possibility at once, only two older steamers capable for troop transport were employed between Fiume and Pola and only until the end of the year” as this is a 1914 reference it is difficult not to associate the event and the Brioni, even though she is not mentioned by name specifically. The piece would seem to confirm, in conjunction with the information on the data sheet from Signor Stelio Zoratto, that Brioni played her part (however small), in the Austro-Hungarian war efforts of World War I, carrying troops and, from the second entry, perhaps even munitions & mines in 1914, and then again after a period “Disarmed” from 1914 to 1916, at which point she was again requisitioned as a troop transport for the Austro-Hungarian (“A.U”) Army

I dived Brioni in July of 2019 on a second dive trip to Viz, I had the remains of the tri-mix I’d used on the B17 there the day before and had it topped off to dive Brioni. By now I had filled the Green Navy dive-log I had started all those years ago in 1990 and was on a nice and similar hard back from Log-it, so from now on it’s the “Blue Log”…..and it records: “17/07/2019 Brioni Komiza Croatia BRIONI a steamship @ 100m approx.. this had been a luxury transporter carrying both cargo & high end luxury passengers. Lost in a storm with no known explanation (nav error?) The wreck is on it’s Port side & beautiful! Covered in Yellow gorgonians but still carrying wooden planking in places this dive started at the stern & prop down the centre of the hull with more time would’ve meant spending time in penetration. I could spend a week on this wreck it’s just magnificent – must do it again!!”          

I had no idea the Brioni was going to be such a beautiful wreck, the Island of Viz is truly blessed in ship and plane wreck terms and I never tire of going back. I planned another couple of dives on Brioni this last year (2021) but illness put paid to the dives even though I got to Komiza, I will again return next year God willing, the call of Brioni is strong. I also have unfinished business on Brioni as the Go-Pro failed me for some reason and the dive taken didn’t record. Brioni is dived in an unusual manner by local dive centers, I use Manta, Andi Marovich, the owner, is a friend and Aniska, Andi’s sister, is not only a friend but a great diver and host too, it is always good to return, and know you are supported by professionals

The Brioni was a surprise, we were dropped off at her stern, the shallowest part of the wreck, as mentioned in the dive log entry, and this seems to be the local “norm”, where UK dive centers would drop you at the deepest point of the wreck as a matter of course. My comment in the dive log is confusing, written in haste, and should read “….more time in penetration would mean more time in decompression”. The Brioni’s stern is her shallowest area, the shelter deck at around 45m and her prop around 50m so my dive began at 45m and the swim down Brioni’s hull, at 70m long, is a considerable one, when you consider you are descending from 45m down to the sea bed at her bow at close to 65m. I had no desire to swim her quickly, and took time to enjoy the Starboard run along her and all the life she has attracted since her sinking in 1930

Getting to Brioni’s bow and turning the dive you cannot help but be taken by the sight of beautiful Yellow sponges all along the wreck, wherever you look they catch your dive lights and make a marked contrast to the deep blue of the Adriatic framing the wreck’s outline. Franco’s shot of the Brioni’s stern shows how pretty the wreck is in terms of the marine life, and there are plenty of fish around her too, depending on the time of year. I have a general rule that I will not penetrate a wreck on my first dive on her, no matter what, Brioni was no exception, I was running slow and enjoying the view, my gas was doing fine and deco was not going to be extensive at around 20 minutes half way back, but the Brioni is one of those wrecks you need to get inside, I cannot wait to dive her again, next summer cannot come quickly enough!

Brioni had already been aground once before her destiny finally caught up with her, on the night of the 16^th of February of 1917, at the height of the First World War. Brioni grounded at Gallon Rock near the island of Veglia, the Austrian Navy tug SMS Herkules eventually managing to get her afloat a couple of days later (when her cargo had been lightened), on the 01st March of 1917

The Brioni was towed to Fiume (Modern Day Rijeka) for repairs and then, after a month, in April of 1917 she transfers to Trieste and resumed service between Albania and Trieste, presumably carrying supplies, munitions and troops, before falling into the hands of the Allies following the end of the war in 1918. Brioni would see another 12 years of service between Trieste, Sibenik, Ancona and Split from 1919 and then Trieste to Albania in 1921, before taking a charter to the Puglia SA Steam Navigation line, the South Eastern heel of Italy where the Brioni covered journeys to and from Venice, Trieste, Pula, Lošinj, Dalmatia, Albania, Bari, Corfu, Preveza and Santa Maura

It would be on one of her journeys between Split and Vis, carrying a cargo of wine and tobacco, that Brioni went to the bottom of the Adriatic off the islet of Ravnik, Cape Jezera, in poor weather and having clearly made a navigational error, putting her “on” instead of between the Vis headland at Teplus and Ravnik or the islets of Mali Budikovac and Ravnik. There were two lives lost on that awful evening, there is no mention I can find of the two who went down with the Brioni, however, just a couple of months ago Andi took divers into Brioni and, on surfacing, one of them asked if there were still human remains on her, as he believed he had identified a human vertebrae in her engine room. The diver was a forensic anthropologist, which puts him in a fairly good professional position to comment, he had left the bone where it was out of respect, however Andi did not manage to find it on a later dive. Being found in the engine room, it would indicate the two lost were stokers, perhaps the last to know the ship was sinking in such circumstances and, deep enough in the Brioni that if she foundered quickly, might have found their route to the upper decks difficult to say the least    

In Memory of Those Souls Lost on the Brioni 09^th February 1930

I am, as always, deeply indebted to those who helped me with this piece: Dr Claudia Morgan (Retd) formerly of the Musei di Storia ed Arte di Trieste, Signor Stelio Zoratto (Retd), former librarian of the Civico Museo del Mare Trieste and his colleagues & researchers Signor Nereo Castelli of the Associazione Marinara Aldebaran in Trieste and Signor Mario Cicogna, Giuseppe of the reproductions dept. of Bibliotecami, and the unknown archivist at as-ts@beniculturali.it

I am especially indebted to my occasional dive buddy, and stellar international photographer, Franco Banfi and to our hosts and friends Andi & Aniska at Manta Divers, Komiza, Viz

2022 Update:

I managed to return to Viz in August of this year and carried out a series of dives with Andi, Aniska & Manta Divers. I could not have passed over the chance to dive on Brioni again and make up for the missing video of the 2019 trip……..My Blue log book describes the dives:

“31/08/2022 BRIONI KOMIZA The Brioni – My favourite Viz wreck (ship) & one I wrote up extensively on the blog. This steamer lies bow down @ 60m & we had to swim for 7 or 8 minutes to find her & descend. I spent a run down her deck to her bow & filmed her Anchor then swam her decks back to the stern & round to her prop, a wonderful 20 minutes – on to her safe & back up to deco on the rocks she ran into – a marvellous dive with Coral, Anemones & fish everywhere“

Take a dive on the Brioni with me, this is a run down her hull to the bows, back to her stern & then a little deco

Or you can check out the No 2 hold and Bridge Superstructure and then deco with some friendly Fish Shoals if you prefer?

The second dive on her: “06/09/2022 BRIONI – Back to Brioni to round off the holiday diving! Dropped in with a short swim to do to reach Brioni! I was after filming her bridge area @ 50m or so & managed to drop in & achieve that. A short swim into No 2 closest to bridge) hold & a look round for future runs. I think you can run all holds as 1 run but need to confirm that Stayed in & around the bridge for 15 minutes then up to deco with pretty shoals of small & medium fish Brilliant Dive!“

Pula, Croatia 2015

The Baron Gautsch of the Osterreichischer Lloyd Line, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was named after the former Austrian Prime Minister and Interior Minister Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn. Baron Gautsch and her two sister ships, the Prinz Hohenlohe launched in October 1908, and Baron Bruck launched in the summer of 1913, home port was Trieste, they were essentially, albeit small by today’s standards, luxury liners, with both First, second and General (3^rd) Class travel options. The Baron Gautsch was built by Gourlay Brothers & Co. Ltd in their Dundee shipyard, Scotland

The vessel was beautifully built and appointed, however, it was not without its issues from launch. In 1905 Gourlay Brothers had re-fitted their shipyard in order to keep pace with technology, it had been an expensive outlay, in 1906, Gourlay’s had their best ever year financially, but with a drop off in orders in 1907, a single ship (Ulimaroa) being most of her output, in 1908 the order book looked little better. The Ulimaroa ran aground during trials and had to be dry-docked for inspection, an expensive undertaking, and the Baron Gautsch (Lythe S.G.E “Gourlays of Dundee, the rise and fall of a Scottish shipbuilding firm” P. 17, para 3. Merton Hall 1881)  “…. became the subject of such sharp exchanges about delays in delivery and shortcomings in engine performance that Gourlays were involved in the heavy cost of modifying her engines at Trieste, her home port…”. Gourlay’s were late finishing her and delivery was late to the customer, even worse was to come, following her sea-trials the engines‘ output was considered too low, and it fell to Gourlay’s to make modifications to the boilers and improve engine performance at the ship’s home port, Trieste. It is no surprise that the associated expenses for these repairs and modifications were not expected, Gourlay Bros completed them but shortly after that declared bankruptcy

All three of the liners, Baron Gautsch and her sisterships, the Prinz Hohenlohe, and the Baron Bruck, were built for what was at the time known as “The Dalmatian Express Line”, a route that went south of the Austrian Riviera, along the Croatian coast of Istria and Dalmatia. The maiden voyage of the Baron Gautsch was the 16^th June 1908 carrying commuters, soldiers moving between Austria and Hungary for duty & service along with their families, businessmen and holiday travelers making the return journey after visiting the popular seaside resorts of the Adriatic

Paul Gautsch, after whom the Baron Gautsch was named, was born in a Vienna suburb, Döbling, in Austria, on the 26^th February of 1851 when the Austro Hungarian Empire was at its peak, and controlled most of central Europe. Gautsch, the son of a civil servant, attended the Theresianum boarding school and went on to study law at the University of Vienna, eventually achieving the highest possible honor for the country’s best students, the “Promotio sub auspiciis Praesidentis”  he began a career in the Austrian Ministry of Education. On 5^th November 1885 Emperor Franz Joseph 1st appointed him Minister of Education in the second cabinet of Minister-President Eduard Taaffe. Clearly an exceptional politician, Gautsch was appointed “Minister-President” (Prime Minister) of Austria Hungary on 30 November 1897, a position he held 3 times before retiring in 1911, Gautsch remained politically active, and a peer of the Austrian House of Lords (The “Herrenhaus”), and was a continual confidant of Emperor Franz Joseph until his death in the spring of 1918

Osterreichischer Lloyd Line was founded in 1833 by Lloyd Karl Ludwig Freiherr von Bruck, a British citizen, it was the first large steamship company on the Adriatic, and based out of Trieste in Italy. In 1836, the company had established a “Department for steamship navigation” in addition to the extant “Department for maritime trade reports”, thereby officially founding the Osterreichischer Lloyd Steamship Company. In 1842, Emperor Franz Ferdinand honoured the company by permitting their vessels to fly the Austrian Flag, and its officers and sailors to adopt Austrian Naval Uniforms. In 1849, the company launched its flagship, “Vorwarts” (Forward), the name becoming the company motto

  When the Suez Canal opened in 1869 Osterreichischer Lloyd opened up routes to the Far East, Singapore and Hong Kong, pressuring the trade Blue Funnel had enjoyed, almost exclusively before that time, with its improved fast steamers and fuel economy around the Cape. Routes were also opened to Mumbai and Columbo and in 1907 the company moved headquarters to Vienna, Austria’s capital, and at that point opened a line to Shanghai. By 1914 at the outbreak of World War 1 Osterreichischer Lloyd was the premier Austro-Hungarian shipping line, it would survive the war, but not the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, finally being handed over to the Italians in 1919, the line was re-named Lloyd Triestino until 2006, it survives to this day as Italia Marittima

The Baron Gautsch (and her two sister ships), described in the Neue Freie Presse of Vienna (Friday, 14 August 1914. p.10 “Untergang des Floyddampfers ,,Baron Gautsch” ) as “a new, and modern member of the Lloyd Fleet” the report goes on to detail her intended routes, Trieste-Cattaro and Trieste-Corfu, and her “appointments”: 87 first class cabins, 40 second class cabins,  describing the vessel as “…..one of the best ships of the Dalmatian Line” with an interior design fulfilling  the most modern requirements

The Baron Gautsch had two large dining rooms, one for first class passengers and a second for her other passengers. The walls of the first class dining room had been covered entirely in wood paneling, with each panel featuring pictures. Above the dining room was a music salon, decorated in yellow brocaded silk, a smoking and gents’ room, including a small coffee bar, was adjacent, and finally there were 150 third class passenger accommodations

It seems the Baron Gautsch led an unremarkable and idyllic life, steaming up and down the Istrian and Dalmatian coasts between Italy and Croatia, for the first five years of her life, passengers & holiday makers alike rubbed shoulders on her decks and in her lounges, whilst the European superpowers edged closer and closer to conflict in an arms race the world had not seen the like of before

 Considering the almost incestuous familial relationships between the Royal families of the time, it is hard to imagine how such a situation arose, this was the Victorian era (from 1837-1901), a time of optimism and bravado, it was the age of the Industrial Revolution, of political reform and social change. The writings of Charles Dickens were driving social conscience, public reform and the eventual abolition of slavery in Britain (1834), the people’s charter of 1838 underpinning civil rights and advancing the emancipation of women, and the discoveries and groundbreaking opus of Charles Darwin, “On the Origin of Species” pushing science into the societal forefront, leading to a railway boom and the first telephone and telegraph. The events marking the reign of England’s Queen Victoria also had a much darker side, with the Crimean War, and the subsequent arms race between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the British Empire, seeing a scramble to build the world’s largest fleet of Dreadnought Battleships in order to secure dominance of the global seas, and retain the 25% of the world’s population who owed, or gave their allegiance to Victoria, Queen of the largest Empire the world had ever seen

It is not without an impending sense of the Victorian Hubris, the kind that in 1912 led to the sinking of the Titanic, the largest moving object on Earth, that we see Queen Victoria’s wider European relations tearing at each other’s throats, in a display of implicit aggression that led to the eventual destruction of the strict class imposed divisions of Victorian society. It may have been the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, that ignited World War 1, but it was Queen Victoria’s family at the heart of Europe and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that fanned the flames. Victoria had married her first cousin, Albert of Saxe Coburg, they shared grandparents, Victoria’s mother, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Prince Albert’s father, Duke Ernst of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, Ernst and Victoria were brother and sister. Franz Ferdinand was Victoria’s Granddaughter, Marie’s, husband. Of Victoria & Albert’s nine children, all were married off to important European royal families, their daughter Victoria married Frederick the third of Prussia (their son was Kaiser Wilhelm II), their daughter Alice’s child, Alexandra, married Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and her final daughter, Beatrice, married a German Prince, and those were just the female children  

It was the outbreak of World War I that doomed the Baron Gautsch, and, in so doing, manifest tragedy from several perspectives, Royal families unable to resolve bitter power struggles, emergent social change and technological advances outpacing a public, hungry for opportunity but with little sense of potential consequence, and basic greed, a struggle for domination in any other form. There is, once again, that portent, Hubris, at the centre of all of this, had Kaiser Wilhelm II not envied Queen Victoria’s Navy and Empire quite so much, had the scapegoats of Bosnia Herzegovina and the Austro-Hungarian Empire treated Serbian Nationalists in a somewhat more politically adept manner, perhaps two world wars could have been avoided, after all, it was the implications of WWI that settled the fate of Serbia and the Balkans, and contributed to the fuel of Europe’s second world war, and an even wider impact on global stability…..

But there was a more profound and immediate Hubris in the Baron Gautsch sinking, and the loss of some 131 souls in the Adriatic Sea…..The Baron Gautsch was unwittingly sunk by her own navy

13^th August 1914, at 14:45, The Baron Gautsch, bound for Trieste and steaming at her full speed of 17 Knotts, was sunk by a mine, laid just hours before by the Austro-Hungarian minelayer Basilisk. The Basilisk had seen the Baron Gautsch and was desperately signaling her to prevent her steaming into the minefield they had just laid, to no avail, the signals went unseen, or unheeded, the sickening inevitability of her fate sealed, it was the Basilisk who sent out the first motor launch to save whatever passengers they could, following the detonation of one of their own mines on Baron Gautsch’s Port side. It took just 5 minutes for the Baron Gautsch to list to Port and then slip under the Adriatic. The Basilisk, joined quickly by the Austro-Hungarian destroyers “Balaton”, “Triglav”, “Orijen” and “Uskope” saved passengers swimming in the fuel oil and resultant fire following the sinking, it is ironic that an unknown amount of those left in the water, (without life jackets or a place in the few lifeboats that did launch successfully from the Baron Gautsch), undoubtedly owe their lives to the ship that unwittingly placed them in such danger to begin with

The Basilisk was built in the shipyard at Lussimpiccolo, which today is the town of Mali Losinj on the island of Losinj in the Northern Adriatic, it is now a part of Croatia but at that time it was part of Austria. Ironically the Baron Gautsch had boarded passengers in that very port on the morning of her sinking. The Basilisk went through the first world war then to be “ceded” (given as war re-payment/spoils) to France in 1919, being commissioned into the French Navy in 1920 as the Aurore, she was transferred to the Romanian Navy in 1922 and re-fitted at Galati shipyard from 1937-1939 when she took part in the second world war

The Basilisk ended her life in 1941 as the Aurora, sunk by Soviet aircraft, but not before she had taken part in the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Bukovina in Romania and then in Operation München, the joint German/Romanian response to the Soviet attack on Romania, her service record notes she contributed to the sinking of a lead destroyer during that period: (On line resource: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/NMS_Aurora Accessed 20/09/2021) “Aurora laid her first mine barrage in the morning of 30 June, off Sulina, during the Soviet invasion of Bessarabia . She was commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Stan Baicu. A second barrage was laid during the night of 10–11 January 1941. She laid a third barrage in the area on 27–28 June 1941. Between 16 and 19 June 1941, she and two other Romanian minelayers, Amiral Murgescu and Regele Carol I (converted merchant ship), laid a barrage of 1,000 mines between Cape Midia and Tuzla, to protect the main Romanian port of Constanța. The mines laid off Constanța would later sink a Soviet destroyer leader during the 26 June Soviet raid on the port. Aurora herself was sunk on 15 July at Sulina during Operation München by Soviet aircraft” 

News of the Baron Gautsch sinking reached the world from many sources despite the outbreak of the war, the New York Times of 15 August 1914 carried a brief notice (P3) under the Headline: “150 Die on Austrian Liner” going on to describe the tragedy in short, concise fashion, perhaps due to the sensitivities surrounding the war and the multi-national citizenship of the USA through European immigration, “Killed or drowned when Vessel Hits Mine in the Adriatic. London, Aug 14 – About 150 of the passengers and crew of the Austrian Lloyd Steamer Baron Gautsch were killed or drowned when the vessel was blown up today by a mine off the Island of Lussin, on the Dalmatian coast, according to a Reuter dispatch from Triest. She carried about 300 passengers and crew, of whom about 150 were rescued”

The report carried no apportioning of blame and, in the circumstances, that was probably best, as the story unfolds the nature of the sinking became more of an issue, after all, the Baron Gautsch was a civilian vessel, carrying passengers of many nations, and had unwittingly become the first maritime casualty of World War I, and, as it would become clear over the next few days, she was not only a victim of her own Navy, but the first casualty of a new kind of sea mine……… 

  The new type of mine was known as “Hertz Horn” and had distinct “horns” now archetypal of almost all war movies with naval scenes. Described by The Great War Blog (On-Line Resource: https://ww1blog.osborneink.com/?p=2385 Accessed 17/09/2021) the Hertz Horn Mines were “Made of soft metals such as lead, the ‘Hertz horn’ contains a conductive acid ampule that breaks when the tube bends, thus activating a battery charge to detonate the mine….”

The Great War Blog description continues: “…….Although naval mines have been used for decades, the Hertz horn design is the first manufactured mine that explodes reliably after striking the hull of a vessel, shattering steel with an enormous pressure wave. Always controversial, but especially when they destroy civilian ships, naval mines were very nearly banned by the Hague Peace Conference of 1907. Although the Asquith government officially condemns the Kaiser’s navy for resorting to such indiscriminate weapons, Britain will later copy captured German mines to build their own first reliable contact mines, then lay some 235,000 of them in the allied blockade of Germany”

So where does “Hubris” damn the Baron Gautsch to the depths of the Adriatic, considering this was essentially a non-combatant passenger ship which should, to all intent and purposes, have been a relatively safe haven for passengers throughout the war? Let’s begin with the intended, and the actual use of the Baron Gautsch…… at the start of hostilities, the outbreak of WWI, 28^th July 1914 (to 11^th November 1918) Austria requisitioned all her Merchant Fleets including those of Osterreichischer Lloyd. The ships were placed under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Navy for a time and carried out troop movements for her armies. The Baron Gautsch was no exception and moved troops and their equipment around the Adriatic from ports such as Trieste to Kotor, in all making four journeys before her fateful return journey from Kotor, bound for Trieste, with Bosnia-Herzegovina refugees and passengers on the 13^th August 1914. It is clear from her carriage of military personnel, that the Baron Gautsch would have presented a legitimate target, should it have been an allied or British ship that sunk her

The tragedy of the Baron Gautsch might easily have been an allied attack, but it wasn’t, the lives lost in her sinking might have been simply avoided….. but they weren’t. Austrian Navy files on the sinking were still open until 1927 all but a few of those were left following a fire in the Vienna “Justizpalast”, some believed to be lost during the burning of the German Reichstag (Parliament Building) 27^th February 1933, just four weeks after a certain Adolf Hitler had been elected as Reichschancellor. The sorry tale of the sinking of the Baron Gautsch might not have such a bitter twist, but for a series of damning circumstances described in heartrending sequence (translated by a Mr Felix G. Game), extracted from several of the Austrian Navy’s remaining documents following their judicial investigation into the tragedy……

From the remaining reports available, and from the genealogical family history of Oberleutnant Robert Franz Schenk of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Army, Felix Game, whilst researching his ancestor in “The Game Ancestry – Second Edition – Part 1 – Chapter 5”

 (On-line resource: Accessed 22/09/2021. http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~fggame/genealogy/htmldocs/zwierzina-johann-1792-schenk.html )has translated the notation on the Baron Gautsch and the pre-briefings given to the ship prior to departure:

“An advisory meeting was held in the port of Cattaro before the steamer sailed. It was attended by the First Captain and the Second Captain (common designation at Lloyd’s, where the latter carries out the duties of a First Officer) who were informed of the approximate extent of the minefield currently being laid. They were also warned to maintain a sharp lookout and to heed warnings that they may receive from Austrian Navy vessels. The subsequent voyage was uneventful as far as Lussin. In that port the vessel was under the command of the Second Captain, who would be relieved by the Second Officer from Rovigno on (the First Captain was at this point on his scheduled rest period). In Lussin the word was that no problems would be encountered if a distance of 10 nautical miles were maintained from the coast…..”

Felix Game’s tenacity in researching the death of his ancestor unearthed a piece of history which had been lost to his family for generations, a report in the “Wiener Zeitung” (Vienna Newspaper) of 3 Mar 1916 reported of Oberleutnant Robert Franz Schenk: “The Emperor awarded 1½ years after his death the Order of the Iron Crown 3rd Class to First Lieutenant Robert Schenk of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Infantry Regiment #4 who lost his life on 13 August 1914 during the sinking of the Lloyd Steamer Baron Gautsch while engaged in the saving of numerous humans lives in a heroic, and extremely selfless manner,” It paints a picture of the tragedy of the event, and the heroism of at least one of the passengers lost to the Baron Gautsch sinking, Oberleutnant Schenk had only married 4 days before his trip and the desperate sadness of his heroism conceals an even deeper tragedy, there is no mention of his young wife’s name to be found and both slipped from this earth into the depths of the Adriatic on that day  

I first heard of “…a shipwreck I dived some time ago off Pula, deep and eerie, I have to say it spooked the hell out of me and you could see it all, it was like a ghost you could see through, almost not there” from one of the mob (sadly I cannot remember exactly who) with me on my UN excursion into the Balkans in 1992 (elsewhere in this blog under “other stuff”). Now, as I was charged with setting up a diving course, and some recreational diving, for the various UN army units involved in the cooling of the situation the death of Tito had caused, and the collapse of the Yalta conference imposition of “Yugoslavia” onto the world map, I was very keen to investigate…..

The story of setting up the UN recreational diving programme for the UNPROFOR tour is documented in the earlier piece in this blog, but, during the setting up of the diving, I got nothing out of Vlado, Slavko, Egor or Jellico on any local wrecks at the time. I’d have loved to dive something spectacular however there were restrictions in place and they were being taken seriously, after all, Pula was not only an important port for Croatia, but there were shipyards close so the Pula port authority was reluctant to let anyone dive locally, let alone be given permission to navigate around the coastal areas nearby. It would be years after I finished the UN tour before I thought of returning specifically to dive, and it was more by accident that I learned of the Baron Gautsch (when looking for a dive centre to fill a couple of days of a longer stay, once Ellie had decided Croatia was worth more than a brief weekend visit), than it was a deliberate search for her. I had been back to the Hotel Histria as a sort of catharsis, not from any trauma, the tour was largely uneventful, more from a “missed opportunity” perspective

 I had wanted to start a serious dive operation in Pula, based on the Verudella peninsula, following my return to the UK, I knew Croatia would return to being a holiday destination soon enough after the conflict, and I believed I could set-up there and take advantage of a relatively un-dived (from a UK perspective at least) Blue Water location, just 2 hours flight from any UK airport, and with little difficulty, given the co-operation of the Croatian authorities and a desire to bring in foreign income to an economy that tanked during the crisis. Sadly, the idea was quickly squashed, our youngest boy, Kai was born and Ellie’s desire to up-sticks and move to a country only marginally out of a serious conflict was, to say the least, none-existent. There was also the matter of set-up costs, after all, I had nothing but dive kit to show and which bank was going to invest in that situation, perhaps it was, after all, just a pipe dream, but I wanted to see what the chances were, or could have been, so I persuaded Ellie to go over for a week just to see what had come of Pula and Murgon’s dive operation

The human tragedy of the shipwrecks I am privileged to dive is never far from my mind, not only whilst I am diving the wreck itself, but also as a background to the sinking and the ship, her crew and passengers and the loss their families and friends endure. In researching the Baron Gautsch I had not, until recently, come across actual descriptions of the sinking and the surrounding chaos of the event, perhaps as this is not a wreck widely known in the UK and not a region previously dived very much from the UK, although diving here is definitely on the increase as several expeditions from the US have proven

Indeed, it is a US source that brought home the human tragedy that befell those aboard, Judi Heit in her blog (On-line resource: https://civiliansandwarsatsea.blogspot.com Accessed 23/09/21) researching civilian casualty’s lost through war at sea quotes “Dr. Neubauer” a passenger sailing on the Baron Gautsch with his family, again from the “Wiener Zeitung” 18 August 1914 issue (p.9, c.2):   “There was big panic on board. He credits a chief railway inspector from Brno for keeping his wits about himself, breaking open the cabin door in which the life preservers were stored, and thus providing his fellow passengers the only means of saving themselves. Dr. Neubauer’s party also managed to obtain life preservers and they jumped into the water. His daughter Bertha with the baby in her arms did find a place in one of the life boats, but after a few men jumped into it, the life boat capsized dumping in the water those already seated. The waves tore the child from the mother’s arms and it was never found. Continuing to swim, Neubauer found his other daughter Luise (who was a teacher at her father’s school), but never again did he see his wife, nor his daughter Berta’s maid”

Following the sinking the Captain, Paul Winter and Second Captain (First Officer) Luppis, who both survived the incident, were interned in Pula to answer for the situation and circumstances that led to Baron Gautsch’s demise. On the deck, in command at the time of her sinking, Second Officer Tense, had no briefing in regards to the minefield, Felix Game’s translation is damning: “Approximately abreast of Pola the commanding Second Captain had the Second Officer called, and told him that he was not feeling well, and asked him to relieve him 45 minutes earlier than scheduled. The Second Officer readily agreed to this without having any knowledge of the danger of the mines. He had been supervising the embarkation of passengers and the loading of goods in Cattaro and was for this reason not present at the pre-departure meeting. And strangely enough, none of the other people who knew thought of informing him about the dangers, allowing the Second Officer to sail blindly into the recently laid minefield” (On-line resource: Accessed 22/09/2021. http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~fggame/genealogy/htmldocs/zwierzina-johann-1792-schenk.html )

Second Officer Tense, who neither the Captain nor First Officer had briefed on the activities of the Austrian Minelayers, survived the sinking. In horrifying irony, Second Officer Tense would later be found on the shores at Pula with a bullet hole in his head, assumed at the time to be suicide. Whilst both the Captain and First Officer were reprimanded, detailed records were lost in the chaos of the war, and the various administrative fires of the time, but both seem to have escaped any serious consequences, remaining with Lloyd’s Austria and commanding several vessels in the following years. There was, of course, in the circumstances, opportunity to deflect blame, at least initially: “Immediately after the catastrophe, there were of course suspicions of a bomb having been placed aboard – after all there was a Serb woman working in the kitchen”, a telling statement clearly showing the animosity of the time between Austro-Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the heir to the throne of Austria), and the resultant outbreak of the war in Europe. These suspicions proved unfounded when the investigations proved Basilisk had not only mined the area hours before, (indeed having finished that exercise, literally, only to see Baron Gautsch steam headlong towards their deadly and destructive network of new mines), but that Baron Gautsch was paying no attention to their attempts to warn her off

  I dived Baron Gautsch in 2015 with Indie Divers of Pula and from the start of the descent down the shot there was the anticipation of an epic dive, my Navy Log book describes the dive: “05/10/15 BARON VON GAUTSCH Pula Croatia So after 23 years I manage to get back to dive Pula my first ever foreign dive site! This time the Baron Von Gautsch an Austro Hungarian passenger liner sunk by mine an hour and a half out of Pula with great loss of life in 13 August 1914. We dropped onto the bow @ 35m and then toured through the bridge & into the main of the ship. The Baron is very open – stood flat on the sea bed and upright but with some wood still evident on her promenade deck. The viz was good and this is a go-pro dive so all recorded. We went through her deck levels to her engine room where you can see her steam engines & back up to go to the stern then we swam the Port bridge deck to exit at the bow & deco for half an hour – great return to Croatia – loved the dive! Air In 230 Out 100 Viz 10-12m Buddy David an Italian Photographer”

As is always the case, the dive log does little to describe the feeling of diving the Baron Gautsch, there is of course a descriptive of the wreck, a rough outline of the areas visited, but nothing to evoke the feel of her! The first impression of the bow looming out of a green and gloomy Adriatic on that October morning was quite something, the wreck almost shrouded in the haze of what was a darker and lesser viz than usual in the Adriatic. Knowing there had been many innocent casualties, a high proportion of those casualties children, made the dive bitter-sweet, those with children will perhaps better understand the deep despair of lost young lives. The wreck is in beautiful condition, wholly intact and sat, in epic movie style, as if she could sail away at any moment, but skeletal, thin of any fittings, windows, portholes, doors, anything…..it is clear that any fittings have been taken over the years, some feature in museums, where they really should be, I’m sure some are held privately too

The run through her was bathed in eerie green light like that at Stoney Cove during the summer months. The corridors show where teak planking would have lain, jagged support frame ironwork evident and awaiting anyone not in tight control of their finning or arm movements, occasional remnants of Teak linger as a reminder of the Baron’s once pristine and luxurious fittings and fixtures. The middle deck towards the centre of Baron Gautsch shows what would have been her stairwell and, in the film of the dive, if you watch, you will see one of her funnels, collapsed into the space resting at a sharp angle down the stairwell, but still allowing plenty of room for us to descend and look at the engine room itself

I loved diving the Baron Gautsch, the easy access throughout is rare in a wreck, her size making her a wreck you can see a lot of on a single dive, if you don’t mind a little deco, and her depth meaning nitrox is a great option allowing longer dive times. Really though, the Baron is an amazing survivor of a catastrophic, almost tectonic clash between superpowers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and her allies, and the British Empire and, eventually, her allies. The very first maritime casualty of World War I sits defiantly, when almost all evidence of that tumultuous conflict has vanished from the surface of the Earth, in her saline crypt, a monument to technology, to hubris and to the futility of all wars. I describe diving shipwrecks as a privilege, diving such a monumental wreck as the Baron Gautsch is a rare privilege indeed, the mere fact she exists is insufficient to fully capture the feeling of gliding through corridors once trod by the elite of Austro-Hungarian society, the truth of her testimony transcends that, the Baron Gautsch sits as proof mankind is doomed, if for no other reason than the stark reality….there is still war on Earth……..and she begs the question….will there ever not be war somewhere on Earth? 

The Baron Gautsch mirrored the 1912 loss of the Titanic, both steaming headlong towards catastrophe in a kind of blissful ignorance of the imminent danger they were in, a mirror image of Europe in the lead-up to World War I, it is perhaps no surprise to find the Baron Gautsch is commonly known as the Titanic of the Adriatic! 

My Thanks go to Davide Bonnici, the “Italian Photographer” on our dive, for the excellent photos shown in this piece

Dive The Baron Gautsch With Me…….

New Island, Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean

  So how has a routine dive become one of the best ever dives of a self-confessed Wreck Addict you might well ask? I would normally not have to answer as the chances are honestly “slim to nothing” and if any of my dive buddies or those who know me through diving would say…..not a chance….in hell!  But here we are, on a diving expedition in the South Atlantic Ocean and we have stretched our legs, over some impressive distances, to dive some remoter sites off New Island, and in little more than large rubber dinghy’s to be honest

This trip, on the 24^th of January 1996, is a long one, we are going North around the headland, out of our little bay at Coffin’s Harbour, the weather favours the route, the wind, mild on the day, is from the South which means it’s at our backs on the way out, if it turns while we are out we can choose the better direction as it suits, the distance is less returning in a Southerly direction and either way, North or South, will give the shelter of the islands cliffs for the most part of the journey home

This will be near the limit of the little Inflatables ability to carry fuel and take the weight of us and our dive kit, we will head towards Sabina Point and then on to Bold Point, rounding the Northernmost tip of the Island before turning South through Barnard’s Passage, named after the islands own Robinson Crusoe, and pass North Bluff across Albatross Bay towards our final destination and dive site, Landsend Bluff. This was the point I had spied when visiting the Penguin Rookery at Rookery Hill, visible to my Right, shrouded in mist and then rugged cliffs looming against the background of open sea as the mist cleared and the sun broke free of the leaden sky for a while

  We passed the seal colony under Precipice Hill on our way, and ran in closer to the shore to take advantage of the easier waters nearer the headland, and to enjoy the company of the inquisitive and playful seals as they dived into the water to indulge their curiosity at the sight and sound of our little craft, and the oddness of the appearance of such weird looking creatures in their pristine, largely unvisited, natural environment, where we must have, quite literally, looked like visitors from another dimension…… I loved seeing the Seals and the odd Sea-lion lazing on the rocky headlands, sunning themselves, I loved the reactions as we passed, the splashes as they dived in, the leaping and flash of those under the surface, powering out to get a closer look at us, and there would be a head popping out at whatever distance the individual animal felt safe at, close enough to see if we were a threat, far enough to effect an exit if that threat became real, a visceral demonstration of predatory behaviour….., essentially, from a Seal’s perspective……. “Are they friend or food?”

  As we closed on the Landsend Bluff dive site we approached more spectacular rock formations than we had seen so far, the headlands around New Islands Western side can only be described using superlatives, the imposing rock formations are magnificent carrying local names like Apache Chief, the pillars of Hercules, the Cathedral…..all evoking their own particular expectations, but on approach, and from the vantage point of a small inflatable at sea-level, they became ominous, magnificent edifices, rising from the Southern Ocean to truly dwarf us into universal insignificance

  On arrival at Landsend Bluff we spent some time ticking the outboards over and just steering around the cliff bases looking at the dive opportunities….and there were prime sites wherever we looked, it would be a challenge deciding where to make the best entry, everywhere looked amazing, it would have been easy to just run out of time moving from great, to better, to even better and on…..and on…to a point where we just had to say, this is it, we’ve just got to get in and check this out! Everywhere we looked was a Deep and inviting “Blue”, all we could do was select the most impressive looking “best of” and believe me….that was a tough decision!

  I don’t know who eventually chose where we went in, I know I favoured the narrow passage at the Pillars of Hercules, I don’t remember why we didn’t do a swim through on that site, but we ended up close, on the Southern side of the narrow, towering cliff sides, where those of you (old, Like me) who spent every Boxing Day watching Jason and the Argonauts, would picture the Symplegades, (The Clashing Rocks, or Cyanean Rocks of Greek legend, supposedly in the Bospherous) held apart by the sea God Triton, as Jason and his Argonauts row their ship Argo through to safety. The Greek legend being slightly enhanced there as the myth has Jason releasing a Dove, taken by the rocks, before the Argo makes the journey, the Goddess Athena allowing Argo through in the Dove’s wake as the rocks rebound from each other

After we had taken the inflatables around the imposing cliff base for half an hour or so, marveling at spectacle and grandeur, the decision had been made and we kitted up, I would buddy with Percy on this dive and we would soon come to know the site as the Cathedral……..my dive log records: “24/01/96 RIB Dive – Land’s End Bluff – S.A. The Cathedral. Very marginal sea conditions – heavy swell but a great dive in along sheer walls covered in Krill millions of the things like a Red carpet everywhere – in through a Blue Green split in the rocks & into a huge open roofed shaft 180-200’ straight up on all sides. Down to the floor at 11m & in and under the giant slab remains of the roof then out through 4m swell along the passage. Spent time with Penguins & Seals & Dolphins (Peale’s – 3m long) on the return boat ride a Magnificent Summer day – Viz 10m Air In 200 Out 150 Buddy Perc.” This is one of the longest entries for a dive in the log, it shows how much I loved this particular site and the dive but it falls way short of the full reality of the dive

  On entry the water was deeply Blue Green as the diffused sunlight, bright overhead, lit the shallows and danced off the submerged rock walls to our Right, we had significant swell on the surface but it was diveable and less under the water from 5 or so metres down. Percy and I settled in and started to swim forward through shoals of Krill, they really were like clouds to our front and all around, amazing Red colour out of the water but slightly more transparent, no translucent really when under, although the millions that made up the shoal were very tangible and often right in front of the eyes, you could see through the shoal to navigate and we quickly found our cliff base coming to an end, there was brilliant light behind what was a very short passage in the rock face, wide but very bright and inviting, we didn’t have to ask, Percy and I turning almost synchronously into the  20 or so foot gap into what seemed to be a huge indoor pool, with a bottom strewn with huge rocks and those surrounded by hundreds more smaller rocks piled up, so the back wall rose at a pyramidal angle to the surface, the remainder forming the odd isolated pile or , as in the far side of the space, dropped one, onto several others forming an almost Celtic burial chamber, with side supports and a huge boulder, resting on top acting as a shallow roof…..the perfect swim-through! Neither Percy or I had either of the exped’s cameras, but it would have made no difference, the huge space, with shafts of light dancing everywhere you looked, was like the effect in St Paul’s, a holy place where we were perhaps the only humans ever to have visited, (the selection of the dive having been entirely random, the result of our slow meander, under the imposing cliffs where the swell and rolling tide was slightly less imposing) the likelihood of either of us wasting time on photographs was zero

    I lack a single poetic atom in me, but if ever I could have “waxed lyrical”, it would have been in this pristine sanctuary, with its incredible colours and light show and its impressive magnitude. Percy and I swam to the huge boulders and I signaled “up”, I wanted to see the place from the surface, after all, we couldn’t get the rib in here or we’d already have found the entrance and done so.  As we surfaced I looked around at the walls of what was an immense shaft, you could hear the gulls and Skua’s calling overhead, hear the swell of the tidal surge rising and falling back, hissing against the walls…..  you could see….hundreds of feet above you, the tight circle of light that had once been the rocks strewn on the floor below, where once a roof existed, and now was brilliant shafts of sunlight bouncing around the shaft walls. We were speechless, I can’t remember a single word said, I know I was just awe-struck at the effect, the scale, the simple, natural magnificence of such a place and, after what seemed an age, we just slipped back under to take in the even more impressive drama that was beneath the surface….I dropped to the side of the “burial mound” and took time to swim up and to the back ,so I could swim through the wedged rocks exiting to brilliant White shafts of sunlight, as the gap widened in front of me to become the immense pool, hidden in the cliffs, and its rock filled seascape. Percy and I did several more lazy circles in the cavernous space, checking huge boulders, swimming between and around them and eventually, very reluctantly we headed for the break in the cliff face that formed the exit from our incredible find and swam out, back in time to the real world and the shoals of Krill waiting to greet us outside the Cathedral, like a horde on the steps as you leave a service………

  The swim out of the cavernous and sanctified space we had been in scant seconds before brought us through the shoal and we were surrounded by the beautiful little creatures that form the base of the food chain for so many of the species of marine life found in the South Atlantic. It was impossible to avoid the shoaling Krill and as we rose through the water column to surface and hauled ourselves back into the inflatables we were covered in the last of them, unwitting passengers in the water clinging to our Dry-Suits. We brushed them off, back into the sea as carefully as we could, but it was an odd experience to see them all over our suits, something I’ve never seen before, nor since!

  Now I don’t know how or why the other divers didn’t find our entry point and the wonder within, but when we did the usual, “how was your dive” courtesy, Percy and I were the only divers who had entered the cliff face, the only ones who had seen the stunning, pristine best of what the South Atlantic and New Island had to offer, I was both elated to be one of the only two divers, perhaps on Earth, to have been there, but also a little disappointed there was no one who could relate to what we had both just seen, no one to discuss the spell-binding sights both under and above these waters hidden within the immense stone cliffs of Landsend Bluff

     The trip back to Coffin’s Harbour was another joy, on the odd occasion we were joined by pods of Peale’s Dolphins, bow wave riding just for the joy of it, in what had turned out to be a wonderful sun drenched afternoon. As we passed plateau’s of rock shelf, low to the Ocean covered in Seals, with the odd Sea-lion in amongst the horde, we were joined by some of the smaller Black and White flanked Commerson’s Dolphins as we came back into the mouth of the harbour, as if to welcome us home……..Brilliant!.……. If ever I get the chance to return to New Island it won’t take a second to make the decision to go…….and I know where I will be heading to dive

I first dived SS Thistlegorm from the Princess Dalal on a week’s live-aboard with FSAC, the First overseas exped I had organised, a small scale affair really, for a couple of friends. I had heard of Thistlegorm for years having seen Jacques Cousteau’s 1950’s discovery on TV when in my teens. I’ve mentioned this before in another area of this blog and won’t repeat the story here, enough to say Thistlegorm is the subject of one of the wreck posts (or “will be” depending on when you read this!).  Thistlegorm has to be the most iconic of the world’s wrecks, there are bigger, there are more intact, and there are certainly more sought after shipwrecks, but there are few, if any, more prestigious wrecks. Thistlegorm has it all, drama, situation, cargo, history, heroism and global conflict and she is still largely intact, a tribute to her builders Joseph Thompson & Son of Sunderland

  I consider myself to be one of the lucky divers who have spent some time in and around Thistlegorm, having now dived her 6 or 8 times over 2 decades, and one of the “privileged” who have dived in, and on her at night. Thistlegorm takes on an air of melancholy at night, almost as if she were a dingy South Coast wreck, rather than the magnificent picture she presents in daylight. The dive video was taken in 2015 and was one of a series of Three night dives our group had the pure luck to be granted by our dive-boat captain from Blue02, an unusual honour. We dived Thistlegorm, Salem Express and Rosalie Muller, the holy Trinity of Red-Sea shipwrecks (as far as I am concerned), over Three glorious nights in 2015. At the time night diving Thistlegorm was rare enough, to dive all Three, this was unheard of and we could all simply not believe our good fortune……

The dives were all with a long time dive-buddy of mine, Craig Toplis of Nottingham, and filmed using a go-pro (Hero- 7- Black) for those of you remotely interested, I have had this permanently mounted to my dive-mask (for several years now) which makes it easier to dive as I can simply “press go & forget” as long as the red light is flashing to begin with……I apologise in advance to those purists who would rather stabilise their shots and set-up multiple story-boards in advance, in order to capture specific agenda video’s, that isn’t me and I simply dive the dive, the camera records what it does……. The only planning Craig and I did was to agree to spend our time on the main bow and for’ard section of the Thistlegorm, in order to show, or travel the most interesting of the areas with our available air and deco-time……..enjoy!

  The front page of this blog has me in what was known as Standard Dress, a hard hat diver’s working kit, something I had seen in movies since I was a kid.

It is nothing short of miraculous what was achieved in this equipment over the years, once you have tried on the gear, and if you get the chance, as I did, dived this gear, it just makes you more incredulous, trust me! Those who worked under water back in the day were determined, strong willed and courageous people, have no doubt!  The entry into the suit was the first challenge, achieved by climbing in through the neck, no front entry zips, no step-in from behind, just one leg after the other and then up over the body and arms and head follows……not for the claustrophobic!

  Many of the UK coastal wrecks of WWII were first visited by these divers sent in to remove sensitive documents from them, or to retrieve potentially useful information from enemy wrecks, often hours from the initial sinking under conditions that would have been horrendous to say the least. The image of a fully rigged diver, making their way through torn and mangled corridors and walkways into bridges ripped from battle damage, still carrying those who died desperately defending their ship to its end, is the stuff of nightmares, hero’s no doubt, and the stories of Lionel “Buster” Crabbe (RN) and, latterly, Navy Chief Carl Brasher (USN) have quite rightly gone down in history. For those with a thirst for knowledge I can personally recommend Kendall McDonald’s “The Tin Openers” full of stories like these but from WWI. If military diving is not for you then check out the story of William Walker the man who saved Winchester Cathedral, literally with his own hands, diving and repairing its foundations over 5 years from 1906 to 1911…….Or there are the early dives carried out in Wookey Hole around 1935 in Standard Dress, you can read more on that in “Wookey Hole 75 years of cave diving and exploration”  (Hanwell, Price, Witcombe) or check out the video “Wookey Exposed” by Gavin Newman which again, I can personally recommend as brilliant stuff!

   So let’s shift to Stoney Cove on the 15th June, a couple of days following my 53rd Birthday, I have been in touch with the Historical Diving Society over the previous 3 months or so and been lucky enough to be invited to dive at their annual outing on the Cove quayside. After gingerly helping them out of the van with various, priceless, items of what can only be described as beautiful and perfectly maintained “antique” diving equipment, it is time to get started….

  The equipment used is relatively simple in concept, a standing bellows pump, or dual pump depending on the make and age, the one we would use was a later, piston operated pump, is housed in a box which has hand driven wheels either side and operates the bellows via a crank shaft, eccentrically, allowing the bellows to fill and discharge fresh air down the air-pipe to the diver’s hard hat

  Once you get into the suit it’s time for the boots….these are more Herman Munster than “Berghaus” to be honest and would later prove very awkward on the rather rock strewn 6m shelf of the cove. I was fascinated to find them fitted using rope and they are a dead weight too, it helps to keep you upright on the sea floor as the Hard Hat is quite buoyant, but walking around is something only done out of necessity and the closer to the ladder you are, the better, simply stepping around onto the rungs takes concentration and no small amount of co-ordination too

   The corselet is fitted over the neck, it usually carries 4, 6, 8 or 12 “studs” and the outer rubberised neck on the suit opening fits over it via holes in the rubberised seam. The seam is clamped between the corselet and Copper bars, pressed over the studs it carries, but above the suit seam, and then wing style clamping bolts are tightened to seal the whole issue together. The corselet is mated to the helmet by a screw thread which is not around the entire rim, allowing the helmet itself to be dropped down and “twist locked” into the corselet, following which a locking bar is dropped between Two lugs on the back of the corselet

   You can see on the photo above, the twist ring style helmet locking system, you can also see the front weight roped in place which adds to the stability of the upright diver when underwater, but also sits the corselet directly on the bones of the shoulders and “wrecks” until you get yourself fully underwater! In the background you can see, over my Left shoulder, the underwater communications box allowing “Top-Side” to communicate with the diver and the diver to acknowledge or report activity, the line to the Hard Hat are intertwined with the long air-hose which would, in latter days, incorporate a heated water pipe to keep the diver warmer in colder water commercial dives

  Putting on the helmet is a strange experience, the feeling is one of slight claustrophobia, mixed with amazement, and the surprise of how different it is to have to turn your head to see through the ports, something I really hadn’t expected to be so different from diving with a mask, but one that made perfect sense once you are actually “in there” isolated in your own, new, but kind of “little” Gold-Fish bowl world!

  You can imagine, communication underwater is not something divers, sport divers at least, do on a regular basis. To have the ability to speak to someone whilst diving seemed somewhat bizarre and was definitely, to me at least, an afterthought. It was also odd having to use the hard hat exhaust to equalize the pressure, and adjust the buoyancy of the equipment too. There was never a problem breathing, and that too was odd, not having a regulator in your mouth whilst underwater was novel to say the least! So, fully kitted up I was assisted upright, steadied is more the case really, and I made my way slowly, stepping on very flat, heavy boots, to the ladder on the quayside fitted for the purpose by the team. I slowly but surely made my way down to the water, it was a maul, the relief once the buoyancy of the water began to surround me was intense and very welcome, it was a hot June morning and I was already sweating buckets!

 Climbing from the ladder at the bottom, turning around to see the 6m shelf stretch away in either direction made me stop and look and check what was in front of me, the boots were flat bottomed and if you stood on even a small-ish stone they tended to throw you forward or backward to begin with, I could see it was a completely different way to move around than on land. I found the easiest way was to have a little bounce in your step, but like anything else new, it was unnatural and somewhat ungainly as I made my way along the bottom to the extent the hose would allow

  So, what was it like down there then? Well, to say it was different is an understatement, the limited freedom of being tethered by air and communication hoses was one thing, the different “feel” of standing and walking around the shelf was another. I enjoyed every minute of being under water in a completely new and unique way, however the limitations of the kit, and it’s new constraints and unfamiliar ways were definitely part of the experience. In truth, it just increased my admiration of those who used this kit to get into ships and submarines, and to explore caves and work on docks and piers and in complex salvage and military operations around the world, to wonderment! 

  I guess the idiot grin shows how I felt about getting into the water and diving Standard Dress, the slightly more considered and thoughtful shot as I was de-kitted afterwards perhaps says it all, the kit is different, by a long way than any other I have used, the experience was awesome and I can’t wait to give it another go, but the overwhelming feeling was the utmost respect for those who did this every day, in some of the most harrowing and difficult circumstances imaginable. To have shared, even in such a tiny way, the feeling of diving their kit, was kind of overwhelming to be honest….. 

There is no greater honour I can think of than to be invited to place a wreath on a shipwreck in memory of those who sacrificed their lives to bring us freedom

        17th February 1915…….. under the command of the 1st Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, the allies landed at Çanakkale in Turkey, a place that would become known to the West as Gallipoli. When, finally, after 8 months of what was one of the most dire episodes of WWI, on 9th of January 1916, the Allies abandoned any hope of prevailing against the native Turks and their supporting German military advisors, some 250,000 had fallen on both sides     

It might seem, almost in anticipation, that Laurence Binyon wrote his famous eulogy, published in the Times in 1914: 

                                                                                                                                                                                  They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.….

   I was working in Istanbul in 2018, living in Kurtkoy, and had decided to take a week off to holiday in Kalkan with my wife Ellen. I had planned to take the opportunity to dive, if one presented itself, luckily there was a local dive operation, Kalkan Dive Centre, which made things pretty convenient. I had arranged to drop my kit with them and take a scenic dive out to a local reef, and was buddied up with a small UK group, one of which I had a sense might have been military….it turned out Michael “Doc” Cox was a lieutenant Commander in the Navy at Landcom, Izmir, and was indeed “military”, (having been ex-Army….Navy doesn’t really count!) Doc may eventually forgive me for that, it’s a military thing….. 

  I liked Doc, we chatted over the next couple of dives and I mentioned I was ex-services, we swapped “sand-bag” anecdotes and enjoyed a couple of decent dives together. It turns out Doc is a bloody good photographer and takes a very well thought out shot. Doc had been planning a series of dives off Anzac cove to mark the 100 years anniversary of the end of WWI, this had taken him some 2 or 3 years behind the scenes and was taking place in a couple of weeks…… I made an off-hand remark about how I’d love to help if there was anything I could do…. I left it at that and, a couple of weeks later, following the swapping of photos and Go-Pro videos, an e-mail from  Doc invited me to join the trip if I could make the time? If I could make the time….there wasn’t a thing on earth was going to stop me….even the Birthday weekend that Ellen had arranged for us in Paris….surely she’d understand….? I copped hell for it, but, stalwart as Ellen is and has always been, she agreed I’d hate myself for ever more if I didn’t do this, and that, on this One occasion, she would be alright flying to Paris on her own and staying for the night alone until I could join her the day after……. Doc, very tactfully, sent a thank you to Ellen from the British Embassy, for “allowing her husband the time to join the memorial dives” it helped….I’m still breathing……

  I travelled the 4 hours from Kurtkoy after finishing work on the 29th September at around 3pm, the traffic through Istanbul and over the Bosphorous was it’s usual bedlam, it was the first time I’d driven in Turkey and although it was a pain the journey was filled with anticipation. I couldn’t wait to get to Çanakkale and see Gallipoli with my own eyes, I had wanted to dive the wrecks of the Bosphorous for longer than I could remember and the idea I might get to help, in some small way, to pay tribute to those who fought and died there was something I couldn’t believe might actually happen 

We had been bunked in a small hotel in Eceabat, run by TJ, (TJ’s Hotel ironically) who’s knowledge of the Gallipoli campaign is second to none. TJ runs & guides trips to the memorials, to the battlefields, and has quite  a comprehensive array of memorabilia from the campaign dotted around the hotel too. This is a compact town hotel and somewhere you can get good conversation and decent food, it has no pretention to being up-market and suited me to a Tee! 

  We left TJ’s and joined our boat, run by Levent, owner of Blackfish diving in Çanakkale, loaded our kit and made ourselves comfy on what was a spacious and accommodating vessel. The journey out was idyllic, with sunshine and calm, although as we approached Anzac cove, arriving an hour or so later, the wind had picked up a little and the current was running fiercely. There was a briefing, who would be where, and what our roles and responsibilities would be and I must admit, when I was asked to carry and lay the wreath I was pretty overwhelmed, I don’t think I gave that away, but inside I just could not have been any more proud or humbled in the same breath…….

  The current was ripping and it took time to get us into a decent position to dive the first of our wrecks, HMS Louis. At approximately 20m depth HMS Louis had eventually been rigged as a de-salinator to provide fresh water to those ashore, she lies upright with 2 prominent boilers and all the associated pipework, sitting on a sandy, flat bottom. It took time to get everyone ready to descend together, so we might keep visibility reasonable and film and photograph the event with some chance of success. Doc had decided the wreath would be placed on Two wrecks, being brought out after each to be finally laid at the Anzac cove Marine Memorial, as you can see in the lead photo of this piece, that eventually worked out perfectly

  The Louis is an interesting dive, there is the hull outline remaining, remarkable really as the current and weather can be fierce in this area and she is not deep at around 16-20m. I loved the raised boilers and the pipework which was arrayed to ensure sea water was condensed into fresh almost direct from the boilers. There are plenty of hull plates and ribs still standing around her too. As a small vessel HMS Louis gave us plenty of time to pay our respects, and also enjoy diving such an historic site, even on such a solemn occasion

  When we eventually left HMS Louis after 40 or so minutes diving, it was with a profound sense of the history and importance of remembrance both of, and for those who had given all in such terrible circumstances on both sides of the conflict. Whilst the British and Allied forces had no desire for a war with Germany, neither did the Turks have a desire to be in such a strategic position that their country would be invaded, and their young men forced to defend it with such valour

  As we decompressed on the shot, eventually climbing back aboard our dive-boat it was clear the weather was closing in, the approach to the spit of iconic land jutting up from the beach in shrapnel alley was under dark and looming clouds, the cove itself seemingly becoming moody and sullen in the acknowledgement of the solemnity of such an occasion.

  You will have noticed we were taking a rugby ball with us as part of the memorial dives, the significance of this was the loss of over 15 international rugby players in the Gallipoli conflict, and the many more lost in the wider arena of WWI, something close to Doc’s heart as a keen player, with Bristol RUFC club affiliations himself. The list of those lost in the war can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_rugby_union_players_killed_in_World_War_I 

  The Gilbert game ball would eventually go back to the UK and be used to kick off the  UKAF Women’s Remembrance match against South Africa (2nd November 2018 at Rosslyn Park) and the UKAF Men’s Remembrance Game against Bristol Bears

  The significance of these dives, and the remembrance of the Dardanelles conflict and its cost were not lost either on us as individuals, nor on the diving world, the event receiving press coverage in the UK forces magazine, on the British Forces Broadcasting Services (BFBS) and in Bristol Tigers own publications, also appearing as a comprehensive article in Dive Magazine. Whilst travelling to the sites, and on our return to the shore, there was an entourage from the Turkish news association filming and Doc was interviewed for and appeared on Turkish national television

  Doc had spent years planning these memorial dives, he did a thorough job which, to some extent, was helped by his appointment to Landcom in Izmir, an international collaborative force based in Turkey. The international nature of the command in Izmir allowed Doc to invite serving and, in my case, ex-serving members of multiple military forces and members of the British Embassy in Istanbul, the UK Army and Navy (Doc and myself) Reena Konia, Gordo Falcona, Isi Morse of the US Army, Andy Pix, Thore Kempenich (German Army) and Levent and Volcan both Turkish nationals

  Gallipoli is just as poignant to the Turkish Nation as it is to the Allies, indeed, standing on the headland in the Memorial site at Anzac Cove is a monument carrying the words of Kemal Ataturk, who not only fought at Gallipoli, but went on to become the leader of the Turkish Nation, whilst it is true, there is no direct proof these were his own words, Ataturk praised the men of both sides who fought at Gallipoli on many occasions, so they remain both fitting and reverent in equal measure  

  The team re-entered the water to dive the far shallower SS Milo, one of the troop transports that ferried soldiers as close to shore as practical under the withering fire from the defending Turks

  The dive on the SS Milo was, again, poignant and undertaken with reverence for those who had been so brave, to land on a foreign shore and face the hailstorm of shrapnel valley, and the assaults on Anzac cove.

SS Milo is a ghost, an outline of a ships hull, her keel lying in the sands of time, slowly passing from this world…… as those lost on the shores and in the hills of Çanakkale slipped away from it…….lest we forget