SS Minas (1891)

SS Minas was an Italian passenger ship built in 1891 by Gio. Ansaldo & C. at Sestri Ponente and operated by Angelo Parodi fu B. of Genoa. She was 110.9 metres long with a beam of 12.22 metres and a top speed of 12 knots, and could carry 60 passengers in first class and 900 in third. Before Italy entered the First World War in 1915 she sailed mainly between Genoa and South America. She was later used as a troopship, and on 15 February 1917 she was sunk in the central Mediterranean with the loss of 870 lives, among them 11 crew members and 315 Italian soldiers. The dead included the Serbian general Ilija Gojkovic, the only Serbian general killed in action in the war, and the Italian poet Vittorio Locchi. Rumour held that she also carried 25 boxes of gold bullion.