Built as a passenger ship under yard No 38 by Fratelli Orlando & Co, Leghorn, Italy for Societa Anonima di Navigazione a Vapore Puglia at Bari.
Launched as the BRINDISI.
Tonnage 879 gross, dim. 59.6 x 8.4m.
One triple expansion steam engine, ?hp, speed?
1895 Completed.
She was a small ship, and nothing of her history I could find.
One site on the net gives that she sailed between Brindisi and Albanian ports.
She left January, most probably from Brindisi,Italian with on board South Slavic volunteers from Canada and the USA who wanted to join the Serbian Army during World War I. She carried also food and war materials for the Serbian and Italian forces in Albania.
Not aware that mines had been laid by the German submarine UC 14 on the road of San Giovanni di Medua (Shëngjin), Albania on 04 January 1916.
When nearing the harbour entrance of San Giovanni di Medua she hit a mine and sank.
It is given she had on board 540 volunteers and only 145 were saved, all the crew were rescued.
Under the killed was a 24 year old American Red Cross nurse Stephanie Hampl.
From an article in the Straits Time of 1 March 1916.
One of the surveyors Miss Lamos told that she was travelling with about 400 Montenegrin reservists on board the BRINDISI when she sank.
Miss Lamos says many Montenegrins on board vowed that if the vessel was torpedoed they preferred suicide to an ignominious death by drowning, and they kept their word.
While the BRINDISI was settling down scores of Montenegrins gathered aft sang the National Anthem, and shot themselves.
Miss Lamos jumped overboard and after swimming in the ice-cold water reached a plank. Others did likewise, till the plank was overloaded and became submerged.
There was a terrible fight amongst many to retain the coveted plank, but others succumbed to the cold.
Miss Lamos who whore a heavy overcoat, was alone when rescued.
More info on the war is given below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_Ca ... rld_War_I)
Montenegro 2011 0.40 Euro sg?, scott? 2016 0.30 Euro sg?, scott?