More than a century ago, the Nimanbegu family received a small fortune for a ship: Seven gold coins to the elbow for a sailing ship

When my great grandmother Emina put her hand in the sepet with gold coins, it sank up to her elbow. No one could know how many gold coins, that is, money, were there, says the man from Ulcinj Genzi Nimanbeg how is his great grandfather Solve it, with three other brothers, sold the large transoceanic sailing ship "Poschich" (Poščić), which used to be called "Croatia", back in 1916 in Alexandria, Egypt.

Thus, apart from the school ship "Jadran", which, despite disagreements about ownership, is an inseparable part of the history of both Montenegro and Croatia, another magnificent sailing ship shared the fate of neighboring countries.

That is why the respectable Ulcinj family Nimanbegu from Stari Grad, which gave birth to numerous famous sailors and captains, is responsible. Brothers Jakup, Hussein, Malić and Rešit Nimnabegu bought a sailing ship from the shipowner Poščić in 1909. Previously, the ship owner Poščić bought the ship "Hrvatska" in 1882, which was built in Senj in 1874.

The captain of the ship since 1909 was the eldest brother, Jakup, otherwise the first captain of the long voyage of the Principality of Montenegro.

"My ancestors were not the only owners. Some sailors from Shkodër also had a co-ownership share, but I don't know who they were," Nimanbegu says.

He says that you can see from the pictures that the sailing ship was one of the biggest ships on the Adriatic at that time.

The ship "Hrvatska" had an impressive list of voyages from 1874 to 1882, of which the ones from Manila to London, which lasted 157 days, and from London to Hong Kong - 134 days, stand out.

"The ship sailed on the Adriatic and the Mediterranean while it was owned by our family. "Because of the war, he was kept in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was later sold to the Italians," says Nimanbegu.

He says that the sale of "Poščić" significantly strengthened the family economically. Several houses and olive groves were bought, and Jakup and Reshit bought a smaller boat "Due Frateli" for their needs.

"That ship was confiscated by the government towards the end of the Second World War. I know that it was later used to transport passengers from Virpazar to Plavnica," says Nimanbegu.

The sailing ship "Hrvatska" was a large sailing ship with three masts that sailed around the world.

The Nimanbegu family and partners sold the ship to the Italians in 1916 and since then it has sailed under the name "Ovidio P." for the company "Perelli e Filli" from Livorno.

According to data from the book "On the way we partied" R. Barbalić i I. Marendić, the ship was sold again in 1924 to a shipowner To Alessandro Boccardo from La Spezia and was given a new name - “Cheren”.

It sailed for 58 years, and disappeared from the ship register in 1932.

In 1874, the ship sailed on the New York-Falmouth route for 35 days, in 1875 from London to Hong Kong for 134 days, and a year later from Manila to London for a full 157 days, i.e. more than five months.

In the same year, it took him 47 days from London to Philadelphia, and 1878 days from Trieste to New York in 62.

The journey from Philadelphia to Rijeka in 1883 took 63 days.