Baron Gautsch wreck is one of the most beautiful wrecks in the Adriatic. It was the pride of the Austrian Lloyd’s passenger fleet. Until the beginning of the First World War it had sailed on the coastal route connecting Kotor and Trieste. After the outbreak of the war, on 27th June 1914, the ship was leased to the navy and had made four journeys carrying military reinforcements from Trieste to Kotor.
Transporting members of the Austrian officers families on the route leading from Boka Kotor to Mali Losinj and to Trieste, it sank in the morning hours of 13th August 1914, after running into a minefield. Just a few minutes after the explosion the bow of the Baron Gautsch rose into the air, and then the beautiful steamship disappeared forever under the surface. Survivors were swimming in the sea covered with a thick layer of crude oil struggling for their lives. Total od 177 died in the shipwreck.
The ship lies in an upright position on a sandy bottom at a depth of 40 metres. In the surroundings of the ship various species of fish can be encountered, from large shoals of smaller fish to large specimens of tuna. In the interior there can also be often found large conger eels.
The wreck is under the protection of the Croatian Ministry of Culture.
