John W. Griffiths

John Willis Griffiths (October 6, 1809 – April 29, 1882) was an American naval architect who designed the first true clipper ship.

His first ship, the Rainbow, was viewed with shock as a difference in design, until she made the round trip from New York to Canton in 180 days instead of the normal year.

Books and writings

• Griffiths, John W. (1854). Treatise on marine and naval architecture; or, Theory and practice blended in ship building. New York: D. Appleton and Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=cu8OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22john+willis+griffiths%22&lr=&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Griffiths, John W. (1856). The ship-builder's manual: and nautical referee. New York: J. Griffiths. http://books.google.com/books?id=el9JAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22john+willis+griffiths%22&lr=&cd=2#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Griffiths, John W. (1876). The progressive ship builder, Volume 2. New York: J. Griffiths. pp. 259. http://books.google.com/books?id=CIJIAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Progressive+Ship-Builder&hl=en&ei=h8gjTNgJkpSdB6zcvSY&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 

Biography: Larrie D. Ferreiro (2007), “A Biographical Sketch of John Willis Griffiths from Primary and Archival Sources”, Nautical Research Journal 52/4 pp. 221-228

See also

• Rainbow (clipper)
• Memnon (clipper)
• Sea Witch (clipper)
• USS Pawnee (1859)

External links

• John Willis Griffiths entry in Appleton's cyclopædia of American biography, Volume 2, p.765-6.
• Biography of John W. Grifiths
• Griffiths and the Rainbow
• John W. Griffiths and the construction of the Rainbow and the Sea Witch
• John W. Griffiths and the construction of the gunboat Pawnee
• Diagram of the Pawnee
• Patents for forming stem and dead wood of ships
• Patent for wood-bending machine