There was in Yugoslav naval circles no very cordial feeling for the
Italians. The Austrian dreadnought, _Viribus Unitis_, was torpedoed in a
most ingenious fashion by two resolute officers, Lieutenant Raffaele
Paolucci, a doctor, and Major Raffaele Rossetti. In October 1917 they
independently invented a very small and light compressed-air motor which
could be used to propel a mine into an enemy harbour. They submitted
their schemes to the Naval Inventions Board, were given an opportunity
of meeting, and after three months had brought their invention into a
practical form. The naval authorities, however, refused to allow them to
go on any expedition till they both were skilled long-distance swimmers.
Six months had thus to be dedicated entirely to swimming. At the end of
that time they were supplied with a motor-boat and two bombs of a
suitable size for blowing up large airships. To these bombs were fixed
the small motors by means of which they were to be propelled into the
port of Pola, while the two men, swimming by their side, would control
and guide them. Just after nightfall on October 31, 1918, the raiders
arrived outside Pola.
Were they aware that anything had happened in the Austro-Hungarian navy?
On October 26 there appeared in the _Hrvatski List_ of Pola a summons to
the Yugoslavs, made by the Executive Committee of Zagreb, which had been
elected on the 23rd. This notice in the newspaper recommended the
formation of local committees, and asked the Yugoslavs in the meantime
to eschew all violence. When Rear-Admiral (then Captain) Methodius
Koch--whose mother was an Englishwoman--read this at noon he thought it
was high time to do something. Koch had always been one of the most
patriotically Slovene officers of the Austrian navy. On various
occasions during the War he had attempted to hand over his ships to the
Italians, and when some other Austrian commander signalled to ask him
why he was cruising so near to the Italian coast he invariably answered,
"I have my orders." He found it, however, impossible to give himself up,
as the Italians whom he sighted, no matter how numerous they were, would
never allow him to come within signalling range. Koch had frequently
spoken to his Slovene sailors, preparing them for the day of liberation,
and he was naturally very popular among them. Let us not forget that
such an officer, true to his own people, was in constant peril of being
shot.