Pictures courtesy of the Sijthoff family

Our ship has been build in 1926 in the Netherlands. The first top left image shows the first construction fase of the ship in 1926 at a shipyard in Bolnes (province of South Holland). Most was done by manual labour. The second top image shows the construction of the saloon and the wheelhouse. In the above right image the Feja is ready for her maiden voyage. She just needs to be loaded with weight and then she is ready to sail. Next to the Feja mrs. Sijthoff, the proud wife of the owner, a Dutch newspaper tycoon.

Feja's maiden trip. She sailed 22 km p/h and was the fastest, biggest and most luxurious private yacht in the Netherlands. In 1936 the royal yacht ' Piet Heijn' was build as a more modern version, but in the image of the Feja, by the same designer, mr. de Voogt. It was presented to young queen Juliana and her husband his RH prins Bernhard as a wedding gift from the Dutch people.

When we found the Feja at a shipyard in 1996, it had been in the hands of all kinds of owners and was about to be demolished (see next page). It had almost been completely destroyed by neglect and by lack of maintenance. It took us years to rebuild it and to get it sailing again. We have since lived on the boat as a family. See pictures on the next page..