Remembering Bokelj - the naval great of Argentina

The Maritime Museum of Montenegro in Kotor received an extremely valuable donation last weekend from the descendants of an emigrant family from Boka. Vukasovic from Buenos Aires and the Maritime Museum there, which inherits the rich tradition of the merchant and war navy of this South American country, and in whose creation and development in the 19th and 20th centuries many immigrants from Boka Kotorska participated.

This is a box with painting supplies that belonged to the prominent Boka Bay sea captain, shipowner, ship constructor and marine painter, Miloš Vukasović (1842-1908).

Valuable artifact to the curator of the maritime-technical collection of the Maritime Museum in Kotor To Ilija Mlinarevic she sold them Vanja Kardovic, Secretary of the Friendship Group of the Parliament of Montenegro with the Republic of Argentina. The delegation of the Montenegrin Parliament has been in Buenos Aires these days and was visited by the descendants of Captain Vukasović and a representative of the Maritime Museum of Argentina. Andres Cieslinski, who is particularly concerned with the study and protection of the rich legacy of this very famous Boka Bay sailor, entrepreneur, engineer and artist in Argentina, handed over the original box with painting equipment that Captain Vukasović used to paint maritime motifs in that distant South American country.

Incidentally, the idea to donate Vukasović's painting equipment to the Maritime Museum in Kotor was born a few years ago during the filming and post-production of the documentary TV series "Boka Pomorska", one episode of which was dedicated to Captain Vukasović and his work. On that occasion, the director and one of the co-authors of this series Rastko Sejic from the association "Šta hoćeš" from Belgrade established contact with the curator of the Maritime Museum in Buenos Aires, Andres Cieslinski, who enthusiastically joined the work on the episode dedicated to Vukasović and, through this series, was the first to present in detail to the Montenegrin public some of the, until then almost unknown, aspects of the life of this multi-talented man. Cieslinski mediated in establishing direct contacts with descendants Miloš Vukasović or Miguela Vucassovicha, as this famous Boka man was called in Argentina, as well as their encouragement to donate a valuable artifact to the Maritime Museum in Kotor in memory of their ancestor and his connections with Boka. Incidentally, this cooperation also gave rise to the idea, which is currently being worked on, to organize an exhibition of Vukasović's marine art paintings in Kotor in the near future, which would be specially sent from Argentina for this occasion for their temporary display in Montenegro.

Miloš Vukasović was born in 1842 in the village of Dražin Vrt, Boka Kotorska, then the Austrian Empire. He completed elementary school in his hometown, and maritime school in Prčanje and Trieste. He finished higher commercial school in Padua, where he got acquainted with modern painting, for which he had a lot of talent, as well as with technical drawing, which was the basis for his later fruitful career as a ship constructor and naval architect. Like his ancestors, Vukasović also started his career as a seafarer on sailing ships in Bokele, where he became a captain very early, even before he turned 20 years old. Around 1865, he went to Argentina, where many Bokeljes went in search of business opportunities and earnings in that then growing country. At the time of his arrival in Buenos Aires, Argentina's navy was in its infancy. In 1870, Vukasović founded the steamship company “La Platense” in Buenos Aires, which for many years was the strongest steamship company in inland navigation in South America. At the peak of its power, the company had a total of 118 ships. Due to strong competition, the ships of this company were sold in 1894. He was also a co-owner of the large maritime company “Vucassovich y Onetto”, which owned about 120 ships of various sizes and purposes. After his death, the company was continued to be managed by his descendants, and was closed in 1937 by dividing the assets when it was taken over by his business partner Hieronymus Oneto.

After that, Vukasović turned his full attention to scientific work and from then until his death in 1908, he was engaged in the construction of new cargo and passenger steamships for the Argentine merchant navy, as well as some warships. During that period, almost all of the best Argentine merchant ships, as well as some warships, were built according to the designs and instructions of Captain Miloš Vukasović. His ship designs and designs placed him among the most respected and best naval architects of the time. Among the ships he constructed, the passenger ships “Minerva” and “Apollo”, then “Eolo” and “Venus” purpose-built for the international line from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, the cargo ships “Demosthenes” and “Pitagoras” as well as many others stand out. In addition to ship construction, Vukasović was also very successful in painting them, and his work is still considered one of the most significant segments of marine art in Argentina.

When Vukasović died in 1908, a large procession of several thousand people led by the then Argentine Minister of Trade accompanied this Bokelj to his final resting place. Speaking at his bier, the Minister said of Vukasović that he was “the only European who has greatly indebted the Republic of Argentina in this time.” He was buried in the Recoletos cemetery in Buenos Aires, in the family tomb Siviori, the powerful merchant family to which his wife belonged.

Happy to be returning part of Vukasović's legacy to his homeland

In the accompanying letter that Vukasović's descendants, through Cieslinski, sent to the Maritime Museum in Kotor along with his donated painting equipment, it is stated that the donated artifact has great symbolic significance.

"This donation has not only great historical and artistic value, but will also represent a tangible connection between Captain Miloš Vukasović and his homeland, with Miloš's painting oeuvre. We believe that the Maritime Museum of Montenegro in Kotor, due to its cultural and geographical significance in connection with the origins of the Vukasović family, is the most adequate institution for the preservation, protection and presentation to the public of this artifact," the letter from Vukasović's descendants and the Maritime Museum of Argentina from Buenos Aires states, emphasizing that they are ready for further cooperation with the Kotor museum "in areas aimed at promoting and spreading awareness of the significance of the work of Captain Miloš Vukasović."