Naval Architect:	G.L. Watson & Co.

Nahlin is a yacht previously owned by the Romanian Royal Family

Romanian Royal Family

The current Romanian royal family , an integral part of the larger royal house of Romania, consists of the family of King Michael I of Romania who bear a royal title...

. Nahlin is one of the last of three large steam yacht

Steam yacht

A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts.-Origin of the name:...

s constructed in the UK. She was built for Lady Annie Henrietta Yule, heiress of Sir David Yule

David Yule

Sir David Yule, 1st Baronet was a Scottish businessman. He was born in Edinburgh and spent most of his life in India....

, was launched in 1930.

History

Lady Yule ordered three small private cruise ships in 1929 from John Brown & Company

John Brown & Company

John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the , the , the , the , the , and the...

, Clydebank

Clydebank

Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...

 with Nahlin being the first built. In 1934 Nahlin was classified as one of the biggest private cruise yachts ever built in the U.K. In 1936 Nahlin was chartered by King Edward VIII

Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...

 and used by him and Mrs. Wallis Simpson during their love affair. The yacht was bought in 1937 by King Carol of Romania for £120,000 and renamed Luceafarul, and later Libertatea.

She was owned by the Romanian Ministry of Culture under order no. 3041, and in service as a charter yacht, a sailing museum of yacht building and development as well as a floating restaurant

Floating restaurant

A floating restaurant is a kind of vessel which is usually a type of steel barge used as a restaurant on water. For example, the Jumbo Palace at Aberdeen in Hong Kong is one such restaurant. Sometimes retired ships are given a second lease on life as floating restaurants. The former car ferry New...

 on the river Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

.

After the Romanian revolution the yacht was sold to "Regal" S.A. - a privatised company based in Galati, Romania which, in her turn, sold it in unclear circumstances in 1999 for as little as 250.000 USD to EDMINSTON Comp. a British based company. Despite the ship, named at that time "Libertatea", was categorised as a Romanian national treasure by the Ministry of Culture order no.3041/1998, and legally it couldn't be sold to a foreign company and exported from Romania, in 1999 it was issued a temporary export permit under the claims that it needed urgent repairs and the "Even Port Royal" shipyard was the only holder of original plans. The permit expired on the 25th august 2000 - date by which the ship should have been returned fully restored to Romania. Today the ship is registered in the port of Glasgow under her initial name "Nahlin".

Design

The Nahlin is 91.4 m (299.9 ft) long, and has a beam of 10.98 m (36 ft). Her draught is 4.42 m (14.5 ft) and is fitted with a propulsion system providing 2x200 hp, and a maximum speed of 17.1 knots.

External links

• http://www.glwatson.com/nahlin.htm
• http://powerandmotoryacht.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=954
• http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,756467-2,00.html
• Nahlin at Ship Spotting World including sightings
• http://www.marinarii.ro/nave.php?id=9