Wreck of the Tugboat Ursus, Vis

East of Cape Stončica on the island of Vis, in Split-Dalmatia County, lies the wreck of the Italian tugboat Ursus. It is of interest to divers because it is one of the best-preserved smaller ships on the bottom of the Adriatic.

The tugboat was built in 1918 in Venice. It was 35 metres long and 5 metres wide, with a capacity of 407 GRT. At the beginning of the war it was called into service by the Italian navy, and in 1941 it was sunk by a British submarine. Today the lettering on the stern, the engine room, the funnel and the bridge are particularly well visible, so it is easy to imagine a vessel such as once worked in harbours.

The wreck is a protected cultural good, entered in the Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia under the code Z-62 and is listed as archaeological heritage from 1918.

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 hr, Wikimedia Commons.
Data: Register of Cultural Goods of the Republic of Croatia (Ministry of Culture and Media), Open Licence; coordinates: Wikidata (CC0).