Naval swimwear

Inv. No.: P3374 / 2602

 

Naval swimwear with embroidered ship Zenta

 

This black naval swimwear, as regulated for seamen and non-commissioned officers, was owned by NCO Engineer Franc Pikon, born in 1897 at Blejska Dobrava. It is quite probable that he himself embroidered the image of the light cruiser Zenta on the swimwear in remembrance of its sinking. The light cruiser Zonta, which in 1900 fought in China against the Boxers on the side of Imperial Powers, was the first Austro-Hungarian ship destroyed in World War I. On 16 August 1914 she was sunk by the French battle fleet in the open sea. Among the 174 surviving crew members (half of the crew) who managed to swim to the Montenegrin shore, where they were captured and jailed, was the Slovenian Franc Pikon. In 1973 he donated the swimwear to the Maritime Museum Piran.

 

Used in Austro-Hungarian Navy
Worn:  1914
Material: cotton
Measures: width 41 cm, height 42 cm