Divna / Montenegro

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Morski

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www.croatiaunplugged.com
Hello All,

This may be a real long-shot...

I came across a beautiful sailing vessel in utterly desolate condition in Bar, Montenegro. The wooden hull is approx. 15 meters, rigging gone, so I can't tell, name: "DIVNA". Alledgedly a total of three ships of this type were built by an English builder in 1876 (!!!???) for some nobleman from Montenegro, possibly the King.

I know all this is rather sketchy and sounds like some spam-mail, however: I would like to find out as much as possible about this yacht and surely it exists although I do not know whether the surrounding story is true.

Any information or suggestions for a contact, an expert on the subject would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Morski Krastavac
 
Yup, It's a long shot!!

There is no Divna in the 1949 Lloyds Register of Yachts and I gave up looking for 1870's launches after 'B'.

Do you have any other clues?
 
First off: Thank you so much for your research; dumb question: Is Lloyds Register accessible online...?

Some other information I have: "Divna" has apparently two sisterships. They were delivered to Montenegro and "Divna" became the personal yacht of the King. All three sisterships came into possession of the Yugoslavian Navy after WW II, apparently being used as training-vessels for cadets in Split (now Croatia).

When the Yugoslavian war broke out "Divna" was laying in today's Montenegro and they kept her. She was eventually privately owned and her owner apparently sunk her when he got tied up with the prop in a mooring-line (I believe in Budva, Montenegro) and continued to motor, literally pulling her and himself down in the process (!!!).

She remained in 5 meters of water due to the war it took several years to salvage her, therefore the condition she is in today.

I have no idea whether these stories are factual, I do have some pics, which I will try to post here soon.

Again: My Thanks to everybody and particularly to Forbsie who tries to provide me with info.
 
Not available on line, and not published since 1978 if you mean the register of yachts (big ship book still published, of course). However, since the Cruising Association have a complete set in their library, what you can do is contact a London-dwelling CA member and set them leafing through the back editions!
 
Some things that would help:

1) Any idea who the other two were owned by.
2) Could you list all the names the king would be known by. (Already tried "Montenegro, The King of" which is the normal format.

I thought that maybe the name had changed at some point but this doesn't seem to be the case. It would therefore seem that she's not going to be in my edition of LRY but the other 2 may be. Just so that you know, the Lloyds Register of Yachts is indexed by Yacht Name, Owner, Designer/Builder and will show other details such as rigging, engine, tonnage, measurements, etc.
 
Hello All,

and thanks for all your participation and input. As for some of your questions: all information that I collected originates from locals, is not exactly scientific and certainly a fair amount of pride and patriotism may be in the mix.

I have posted my inquiry on some other forums as well and the majority believes that "Divna" was built much later than 1876, possibly in the 1920ies or even 30ies and possibly in Germany (although this opinion comes from a German forum, which may include some bias just the same).

As for some of your questions:

I have requested the name of those sisterships, but not yet received a response. The King's name was Nikola or Nikolai, a bit difficult as Montenegro uses the kyrillic alphabet. I have several pictures of "Divna' but have not yet figured out how to post pics on this forum, perhaps you can take the time to check here:
http://forum.yacht.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=544

and here respectively:

http://forum.yacht.de/attachment.php?attachmentid=543

Thanks again,

Morski Krastavac
 
I would tend to agree with the Germans on the date, from looking at her hull shape. I am a London-based CA member, and in one week's time will be based back at Limehouse Basin, a mere stroll from CA house, so I could go and have a nose about...

/<
 
Have you read this: http://www.pcnen.cg.yu/english/index.php ?
That might be a trace, but not an explanation. And it certainly does not justify for the design that seems to be from the 1920s or 1930s....
However, this seems to support it: http://jv.gilead.org.il/Mondial/marko/Jules%20Verne%20and%20Serbia.pdf, even if the details vary...

But pherhaps it is an explanation why the story of the kings former ship is so present in montenegro...

However, in 1905 Nikola, King of Montenegro, had a yacht called Rumija (http://www.winne.com/montenegro2/to04.html). This yacht was probably armed in 1914 and sank in 1915 (http://www.stile.coventry.ac.uk/cbs/staff/beech/ahnavy/tb57.htm), so this is definitely not the one on the hard....

Holger (also known as amphitrite)
 
Hi Kristal,

It would be great indeed if you could "nose about" (love this expression, never heard it in the US..:o) if it is not too much of an inconvenience of course.

Hallo Holger,

Ich denke wir koennten auch Deutsch schreiben, wo dies aber eine Englischsprachiges Forum ist: Thanks so much for those links, the pic in the first report shows a boat that may be larger than "my" Divna. The Verne-story certainly matches locations that were mentioned by locals in Montenegro. I will try to get some more info from there.

I am truly amazed by the interest that you all show and the great information that comes from it. Thanks again,

Peter
 
Hello Morski,
For what it's worth there was an incredibly similar yacht moored off Cobnor in Chichester Harbour for many years back in the 1970's which was owned by Hermann Goering and brought back after the war.It was in immaculate condition-a real stunner.
 
@ Delphi,

Thanks for this info, will put it to other history that I got; to be honest the traces seem to be running a bit cold lately; my contacts in Montenegro have not responded to my emails in a while, so I have no answers for questions that have been raised in this forum.

What I am pretty certain of, is that this particular "Divna" was not King Nicola's and/or Jules Verne's ship.

I will however continue to gather as much info on her as possible. Thanks for your input.
 
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