Archduke Johann Salvator of Austria (Johann Orth) - Disappearance

Disappearance

Johann Salvator married Milly Stubel, an opera dancer in a London registry office, and after purchasing a ship named the Santa Margareta, he and his wife sailed for South America. In February 1890 he set off from Montevideo, Uruguay, heading for Valparaíso in Chile. He was never heard from again and his ship is believed to have been lost off Cape Horn, though rumours persisted that he survived and settled in Patagonia. He was officially declared dead in 1911.

In 1945, Hugo Køhler of Kristiansand, Norway, claimed on his deathbed that he was actually Johann Salvator. In 2007, relatives of Køhler requested that Køhler's grave be opened, so that a DNA test can be performed. Should Køhler and Johann Salvator actually be the same person, Køhler's descendants may be entitled to Johann Salvator's heritage, including Schloss Orth.