April the 13th, 2025 – 301 years ago, a ship drowned and ended up in a watery grave just off the coast of the island of Hvar. Marine archaeologist Igor Mihajlović revealed more about this fascinating Hvar shipwreck.
As Morski writes, Igor Mihajlović recently gave a lecture in Split, during which he presented some interesting new details about a 301-year-old Hvar shipwreck. That treacherous night occurred during one harsh winter night back in 1724, close the islet of Stambedar.
The islet of Stambedar is the southernmost of the Paklinski (Pakleni) Islands that lie just off Hvar. Archaeologists have learned what kind of ship sank to the depths below that night, who its captain was, where it was heading and what it was transporting. They discovered that there was also a mysterious passenger and a servant on board, who lost their lives in the waters near Hvar.
This 301-year-old Hvar shipwreck was first discovered at a depth of 40 metres back in 1986, when archaeologists were investigating a much older (ancient) shipwreck.
The sunken ship had by then rested peacefully on the seabed for decades. Throughout seven archaeological excavations conducted from 2019 to 2024, archaeologists managed – as if they had opened a time capsule – to completely reconstruct what happened, as well as to precisely whom, exactly three centuries ago, reports More magazine.
The ship, which lies 40 metres deep off the coast of Hvar, sank to its demise during a stormy night a few days before Christmas back in 1724. It seems that it was hit by a sudden violent Adriatic storm, which claimed the lives of fourteen people on board. Only one crew member survived the event and later testified to what happened after being rescued and taken to safety on Hvar.
He most likely survived because he was the only actually up on deck during the storm, while everyone else was hidden below deck. The sunken ship was a merchant frigate that was transporting salt from Barletta (a place just above Bari) to what was then an Austrian port – probably Rijeka (now Croatia) or Trieste (now Italy).
When the sea penetrated the vessel’s interior, the bags of salt it was carrying became soaked, weighed down and caused the ship to sink. The ship was named “Madonna Santissima Carmine”, and the commander of the Dubrovnik frigate was Stjepan Lukin Mileško.
Captain Mileško was 57 years old at the time, and according to the archives, he had been employed as a ship’s captain from the age of 28. He spent his entire life working at sea, and he died in it, too.
There was also a mysterious passenger on the ship, accompanied by a servant, who is assumed to have been a pilgrim. His existence is still shrouded in mystery, although altarpieces, medals and a mirror that are assumed to have been his were found.
Archaeologists also came across 18 silver and 16 copper coins, as well as many human bones, which indicated that the ship’s crew had perished. Then cannons were found, three cast iron and five movable ones made of wrought iron.
