Crossword-Solution: NEFS 4 letters, 3 clues 🏆 scrabble score: 7

Bien se crut entrepris de guerre Neptune, le voyant nager, Triton dut tout vif enrager, Et Doris et ses filles blondes[122], Admirant ces nefs vagabondes; Tretous ils se crurent trahis, Tant furent soudain Èbahis Des marins guidant leur navire A leur grÈ sur l'humide empire.

The Venetian nefs were headed by Condalmiero in his flagship the _Galleon of Venice_, the most formidable warship in the Mediterranean, and the precursor of a revolution in naval architecture and naval tactics.

Doria's explanation was that he was trying to decoy Barbarossa out into deeper water where the guns of the nefs could be used, but there is no other conclusion to be reached than that Doria did not want to fight.

Barbarossa's prizes included two galleys and five nefs, but he, too, had failed in an inexplicable fashion in drawing off from the assault on the _Galleon of Venice_ at the end of the day's fighting.

The 'Nefs' and the transepts are the most ancient, their construction dating from the thirteenth century.