Vis (ex-Renteria); cargo steamship; Yugolsav, Oceania Company, Sušak

Built: 1921 Port of Glasgow, Great Britain

Sunk: 13th February 1946 (mine)

Dimensions: l=79 m, w=12.5 m

Coordinates: 45.12422° N, 14.21740° E

NOW A KNOWN DIVING  WRECK  Location: about 400 m E of the Cape of Mašnjak, eastern coast of Istria

HISTORY:

Built in Great Britain under the name of Renteria in 1921 for the ship owner Fearnley & Eger from Norway. In August 1934 the ship changed ownership – the Yugoslav joint-share shipping company Oceania from Sušak bought it and it gained a new name – Vis. After the outbreak of war in 1939 Vis received the inscription “Yugoslav” and the state flag on its side, so as submarines and warships of the warring sides could identify from a distance that this ship was from a neutral country. However after the occupation of Yugoslavia in April 1941, all Yugoslavian merchant ships which found themselves in British or American ports were requisitioned for the needs of the navy. This was also the fate of the steamship Vis, which was immediately enlisted into the convoys of Allied ships.

By the end of the war the Vis headed across the Atlantic to England, where it unloaded a cargo of wooden building material, and then continued its journey to Oran in North Africa. The ship conducted several more voyages, after which in February 1946 it arrived in Rijeka.

On the morning of 13th February 1946 the Vis embarked for Raša in Istria, where it was to take on a load of coal. Due to the danger of mines, since the central part of Vela Vrata had still not been cleared of minefields, the captain was ordered to stay as close as possible to the Istrian coast, where there existed a corridor cleared of mines. Therefore the Vis sailed closely along the steep coast of Istria, keeping a distance of about 400 m.

At around 0930 hrs. the Vis found itself within reach of the Cape of Mašnjak , the ship shook from a tremendous explosion, and along the right bow railing there rose a large watery column. There was no time to lower the lifeboats, because the ship had already plunged at the bow down to the main deck. Only the rafts which the Allies had placed on sloping ramps along the superstructure of the ship remained, in the case that the ship needed to be abandoned quickly. The ropes which held the life rafts were cut and they slipped into the sea. Not even ten minutes had passed since the explosion, and the Vis, its stern raised high, submerged forever.