Nahlin (yacht)

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Motor Yacht Nahlin.JPG
Nahlin moored in Dartmouth, Devon in July 2010
History
Name: Nahlin
Builder: John Brown & Co
Yard number: 533
Launched: 1930
Identification:
Status: Currently in service
Naval Architect: G.L. Watson & Co.
General characteristics
Class & type: Luxury yacht
Tonnage: 1,574 metric tons (deadweight tonnage)
Displacement: 2,017 metric tons (maximum)
Length: 91.4 m (300 ft)
Beam: 10.98 m (36.0 ft)
Draft: 4.42 m (14.5 ft)
Propulsion: 4 x 2200 hp[1][2]
Speed:
  • 17.4 knots (32 km/h) (maximum)
  • 16.1 knots (30 km/h) (cruising)

Nahlin is a luxury yacht and one of the last of three large steam yachts constructed in the UK. She was built for Lady Annie Henrietta Yule, heiress of Sir David Yule, and was launched in 1930.[3] She is currently owned by British industrial entrepreneur Sir James Dyson, who purchased her from Sir Anthony Bamford, Chairman of JCB.[4][5][6] The name Nahlin is taken from the Native American word meaning "fleet of foot" and the yacht has a figurehead depicting a Native American wearing a feathered headdress beneath the bowsprit.[7][8]

History

Lady Yule ordered three private yachts in 1929 from John Brown & Company, Clydebank, with Nahlin being the first built. In 1934 Nahlin was classified as one of the biggest private yachts ever built in the U.K. Numbered 533 at the yard, she was the vessel constructed by Brown's immediately before the RMS Queen Mary.[9]

In 1936 Nahlin was chartered by King Edward VIII - rather than using the Royal yacht Victoria & Albert III, to "enable the avoidance of formality accorded to Royalty" - and used by him and Mrs. Wallis Simpson during a cruise in the Adriatic Sea.[7][10][11] The presence of Simpson on board the yacht first "alerted the world's media to the impending abdication crisis."[12][13] Informal photographs of Edward and Simpson on board together during the cruise were not published in Britain but became front-page news in the United States.[8] During the cruise, Nahlin was escorted by HMS Glowworm, a Royal Navy destroyer.[9][14]

The yacht was bought in 1937 by King Carol II of Romania for £120,000 and renamed Luceafarul (Evening Star), and later Libertatea (Liberty).[15] When the Romanian monarch abdicated in 1940, she became the property of the Romanian Ministry of Culture and was tied up in the port of Galați on the Danube as a museum and later as a floating restaurant.[8][16][17][18]

In 1989 the yacht was rediscovered by luxury yacht broker Nicholas Edmiston who purchased the vessel in 1998 from the Romanian government. The company paid $265.000 for her, scrap metal value, although the Romanian Ministry of Culture had classified her as State Patrimony by order No. 3041/Jul 12 1998 and subsequently could not have been sold. At the time, Romanian press wrote that a British company would restore Libertatea to her former glory, thus the need for her to be transported out of the country. Only a temporary export permit was issued by the Romanian authorities, but she was never coming back. In 1999 she was sent to Falmouth, Cornwall, on the heavy lift ship Swift.[8][19][20] She was then towed to Devonport, Plymouth and then to Liverpool for restoration.[21][22][23][24] Phase one of the project was delayed when restorers Cammell Laird went into receivership.[6] Following a 15-year process of stabilization and a £25 million restoration led by G. L. Watson & Company the ship was recommissioned in 2010 as the Nahlin and is registered again in Glasgow, Scotland.[3][16][25] The refit was undertaken by Nobiskrug at Rendsburg, Germany, and completion was at the Blohm + Voss shipyard, Hamburg, where diesel engines replaced her old steam turbines.[26]

During restoration, the yacht's original mahogany-hulled 6.4 m (21 ft) ship-to-shore tender, believed lost for 60 years, was located in Scotland, having been fully restored by owner Willie McCullough. It has now been reunited with the yacht.[22]

Design

The Nahlin is 91.4 m (300 ft) long, and has a beam of 10.98 m (36.0 ft). Her draught is 4.42 m (14.5 ft). She is fitted with a propulsion system of 4 x 2200 hp engines, each providing 1619 kilowatts; total power for the boat is therefore 8800 HP or 6475 KW.[1][2] Nahlin's maximum speed is 17.1 knots. She was originally furnished with six en-suite staterooms for guests, a gymnasium, a ladies' sitting room with sea views on three sides, and a library.[23][27] Edward VIII famously had all the books removed from the library to make more room for alcohol to be carried during his cruise.[15] The gymnasium had been converted to a stateroom by King Carol of Romania but has now been restored.[17]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Bibliography
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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