Original scientific paper
Summary: Fate of the Zrmanja steamer
Ljubomir Radić
; Croatian Maritime Museum, Split, Croatia
Abstract
The steam ship Zrmanja and her sister ship Velebit D. were built in 1913 in the shipyard of Marco U. Martinolich on the island of Mali Lošinj. Only 28 metres long with 100 BRT, these small steam ships were part of the steam ship company Dalmatia. In 1922 Zrmanja became part of the fleet of the new steam ship company Jadranska plovidba in Sušak. The home port of the ship was Šibenik, and Zrmanja sailed mostly in that area. After the begining of the World War II, the Italian Navy requisitioned the ship and Zrmanja was renamed Isto (the Italian name for the Croatian island of Ist). After the fall of Italy the ship was taken over by the Germans, mostly in the Zadar region. In 1944 Zrmanja set sail from the town Crikvenica to the island of Krk, and thus began one of the biggest maritime mysteries of Croatia. On the night of the 22nd October 1944 the ship disappeared, complete with passengers and crew. The crew numbered 13; the number of passengers is unknown, though local people claim there were approximately 30. There were many theories as to the ship’s disappearance: the crew wanted to defect to the partisans on the island of Ist and entered in German minefield; it was mistaken for a German ship by an English vessel and sunk; or that they sailed on to the port of Luceno in Italy. The defection theory was popular because the captain of the ship Josip Randić was known to be a partisan sympathizer. The only trace of the steamer ever to be found appeared the following year, in October 1945. Fishermen on the island of Galiola found a body, complete with a seaman’s book with the name Josip Randić. His wife, who was not called upon to identify the body, claimed that it was not her husband. The body was buried on Galilola, leaving more questions than answers. It is hard to come to any precise conclusion as to why the steamer disappeared without proper evidence. The discovery of the wreck would certainly provide many answers. So we are publishing a map made by the notable Croatian maritime historian Kažimir Pribilović, with supposed locations of the ship. Hopefully the divers in waters around Krk will give us final answer.
Keywords
steam ship Zrmanja; steam ship Velebit; Jadranska plovidba; steam ship Isto; island Krk; captain Josip Randić; island Galiola
Hrčak ID:
284651
URI
Publication date:
7.7.2013.
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