Rumija

Among the more important marine destinations of Montenegro is also the shipwreck of ''RUMIJA'', a yacht of king Nikola, which was sunk on 2 March 1915. "RUMIJA'' occupies one of the most important places in the naval history of Montenegro in the XX century. She was the pride of the Montenegrin fleet. Beside performing its regular service, this ship was also used for refloating and rescuing of other ships, transportation of passengers, food and aid at the most critical moments in Montenegrin history, actively participating in the Balkan Wars.

"Rumija" was a steam yacht, with a screw and two masts, 47.78 m long and 6.10 m wide. She was purchased by sultan Abdulah Hamit in England who presented it as a gift to prince Nikola as the eight of ten yachts. Under the name of "Zaza", the boat with the Turkish sailors arrived at Pristan on 1 January 1905 to be taken over by the Montenegrin crew two days later, on 3 January. Two days later, loaded with 15 tons of coal, the prince's new yacht set sail for Boka Kotorska and it cast anchor in Meljine. During the first few months "Zaza" was used to transport the royal family from Boka to Albania (on 23 March prince Nikola, while on board of this yacht, ceremoniously opened the works on the construction of the break-water in Bar) and during the sailing of the crown prince Danilo down the river Bojana on 28 July 1905 it was decided that the name of the yacht be changed to "RUMIJA". On January 1908 the gravely ill prince's sons, Stanislav and Stevan, spent their last days on board of "RUMIJA" (Stanislav died on 4 January in Kotor and Stevan on 1 March in Cannes).

From 3 January 1905 to 14 January 1912 the commander of the yacht was captain Niko Jankovic from Igalo, who was decorated several times and who performed the funcion of commissioner at "Compania di Antivari". From 1912 up to the time when it sank, during its days of glory, the commander of the ship was Captain Ivo Ðokic from Bar. Captain Želalic also spent some time on board of "RUMIJA" in 1910, probably during the commander's absence or sick leave. The machinist was Labud Nut from Turok in 1905, in 1910 this position was held by Stefan Ingriz, and three years later by Ivan Richter. The crew counted 14 people.

During the Balkan Wars the yacht "RUMIJA" cooperated with the land forces in Italy and transported war supplies. It also helped Serbian army to disembark in Medova from Greek cargo ships. At that time the yacht "RUMIJA" was the only unarmed ship in the south part of the Adriatic Sea who could tug boats loaded with food supplies and therefore, without running any risks, the Austro-Hungarian command was able to destroy "RUMIJA" on 2 March 1915 in Pristan after having pursuit it for several days with airplanes, submarines and torpedo boats. Two out of five Austro-Hungarian torpedo boats broke off the anchor chain, pulled the yacht towards the breakwater and torpedoed it at about 150m away from the main port in the direction of the villa "Toplica" at 3:45 in the morning. And that is how the last yacht of the last Montenegrin sovereign met its end.