The poem
“Tegetthoff” was composed immediately after the death of Admiral
Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, one of the most important commanders of the Austrian
Navy of the 19th century. It was written on April 8, 1871, the day after the
admiral’s death, by Eduard Mautner (1824 – 1889), a journalist, translator,
theater critic and writer. The poem was published the very next day, April 9,
in the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse.
The original
manuscript of this poem, which comes from the estate of Admiral Franz Adalbert
Joseph Johann Freiherr von Minutillo (1840 – 1916), is preserved in the
Gallerion naval collection. His connection with Tegetthoff dates back to the
Battle of Vis in 1866, when he was the battleship’s ensign and his personal
adjutant.
Minutillo served
on the admiral’s ironclad Erzherzog Ferdinand Max during the battle. After the
ship rammed the Italian battleship Re d’Italia, he joined the crew preparing to
board the enemy ship. On that occasion, he was seriously wounded by a rifle bullet
in the right wrist. The consequences of the wound accompanied him for the rest
of his life – his wrist remained stiff, and he suffered pain during changes in
the weather. For his services in the Battle of Vis, he was awarded the Order of
the Iron Crown, 3rd Class, with war decorations. After the Battle of Vis,
Minutillo continued his successful career in the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In
1894, he reached the rank of rear admiral, and then became squadron commander
and naval commander in Trieste, where he served from 1895 to 1899. As vice
admiral from 1899, he was president of the Naval Technical Committee
(Marine-technisches Comité), and from 1901 to 1905, he served as naval
commander in Pula. In 1904 he reached the rank of admiral.
He retired on 1
September 1905, after which he lived in seclusion in Graz, where he died in
1916. His life path, from a young ensign and Tegetthoff’s adjutant in the
Battle of Vis to admiral and commander of the navy in Pula, reflects almost
half a century of development and change within the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
The original
manuscript of the poem “Tegetthoff” from Minutillo’s legacy is today
kept in the Gallerion naval collection. Its special value lies not only in the
fact that it is an original document created immediately after Tegetthoff’s
death. It belonged to a man who knew the admiral personally, was his adjutant
and participated with him in the Battle of Vis. It is through such objects that
the story of the battle remains not only a story of ships, tactics and
victories, but also of the people who participated in it.