Νεράϊδα [Neraida I, Neraida, Laurana]

[Nicholas Peppas]

Surprisingly enough, there is not much about Neraida's background on this thread!

Neraida was built as Laurana at Cantieri Navale del Quarnero, Fiume, in 1939. {NB: Laurana, today's Lovran, is a town in Istria}. She had length of 55 m and width of 8 m. Her tonnage was 462 tons and her service speed a strong 16.5 knots! The well known myth that she was "the yacht of Galeazzo Ciano" has not been verified by any Italian source. It is possible though that she was used by Ciano in his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Mussolini government.

Aldo Cherini and Paolo Valenti published a book "Il mare di Trieste e dell' Istria" (Luglio, Trieste, 2004), where the readers can find pictures of Laurana.
Cherini.jpg

She was requisitioned by the Royal navy in 1943. In July 1946 she was bought by the Malta Steam Ship Company. She was placed in the Malta to Siracusa service.

She was bought by John S. Latsis in Piraeus and named Neraida. She was fitted with MAN diesel engines, replacing the original Fiat ones, in 1954. The rest of her history is described in this thread.

An early Laurana photo. NB: While this photo is promoted as that of Lauran, I have doubts and I believe it is Neraida's
Neraida0.jpg

An early Neraida photo from his Latsis Foundation http://www.latsis-foundation.org/pbf/en/jsl/photos.html
Neraida4.jpg


Also a photo of Neraida in Hydra in the early 1950s
Neraida in Hydra.jpg

And a recent Neraida photograph by Anton Heuff in http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/...php?lid=336599
Neraida3.jpg