The ship was operated by Österreichischer Lloyd, and was built by the Gourlay Brothers shipyard in Dundee, United Kingdom.

The company's fleet was constantly growing, especially under the leadership of Julius Derschatta von Standhalt (1852–1924), Minister of Railways in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Council and president of Lloyd.

Baron Gautsch and its sister ships were built for the so-called Dalmatian Express Line, a route that went south of the Austrian Riviera along the coast of Istria and Dalmatia.

Baron Gautsch carried commuters, business and leisure travelers and summer guests who wanted to visit the popular seaside resorts of the Adriatic.

The 2069 GRT steamer Baron Gautsch was built at the Gourlay Brothers shipyard in the Scottish city of Dundee.

With the outbreak of World War I on 28 July 1914, all merchant ships in Austria-Hungary were put into the military service of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

At the conference, the commanders of ships were informed that the Navy planned to set mine fields in the northern Adriatic in order to protect the entrance to its main naval port, Pula.

Later, the crew of Baron Gautsch received further instructions regarding navigation from military authorities in Zadar via radio.

There were 66 crew members and 240 passengers on board (this data does not include children under 10 years of age and conscripted soldiers).

On 13 August 1914, at 11:00 am, Baron Gautsch departed from harbour on the island of Veli Lošinj, and was sailing directly to the port of Trieste, where it was scheduled to arrive at 6.00 pm.

From Veli Lošinj to Pula, the ship was officially sailing under the command of First Officer Josef Luppis, but this was not the case in reality.

Tenze made several references about minefields in surrounding areas, and how Austro-Hungarian Navy had placed them to protect the port of Pula, but that did not make him change course.

At 2:45 pm, seven nautical miles from the Brijuni islands, Baron Gautsch entered at full speed into a minefield that had just been set by the Navy forces.

Captain Winter and first officer Luppis survived and were placed under house arrest in Pula.

Details from their trial and the verdict are unknown because the events were under war censorship, but also because it was believed that everything about the case should stay hidden from general public for morale reasons.

In August 1994 a memorial service attended by representatives of the Catholic Church, the military and political parties was held in Rovinj for the 80th anniversary of the sinking.

At the "G.da Modena" theatre in Palmanova, the event, led by the journalist Pietro Spirito was a great success with more than 200 divers and history fanatics attending.