Antonio de Simone (Italian, fl.1860-1913)

Classed as an auxiliary ketch, Xarifa was designed by J.M. Soper for the American Franklin M. Singer then resident in Paris. Built by Camper & Nicholson at their Gosport yard in 1912, she was registered at 181 tons gross (149net) and measured 110 feet in length with a 25 foot beam. Constructed of wood on a steel frame, her sails were by Ratsey & Lapthorn and she was additionally fitted with a 6-cyliner petrol motor. Mr. Singer kept her until his new twin-screw schooner, also named Xarifa, was built in 1930 at which time his original boat was sold to Mrs. Alys Pringle who renamed her Verona. Still afloat after the Second World War, by 1953 she was owned by E. Powys-Cobb and by 1963, she had passed into German ownership under the name Grand Slam, disappearing from record soon afterwards.