John
Willis Griffiths was considered a genius of naval architecture, if
perhaps eccentric and exuberate in the promotion of his radical
theories of shipbuilding. He led the clipper ship era as architect of Rainbow and Sea Witch,
utilized scientific methods of observation and testing to support his
designs, was draftsman of many successful steamships and war vessels,
and patented a number of inventions.
Griffiths was born in New York City to John Griffiths, a Welsh immigrant, who was employed as a shipwright at one of the East River yards. John Willis Griffiths learned his craft from his father as well as in apprenticeship to the shipwright trade. He was apprenticed to Isaac Webb, as were Webb’s son William H. Webb, and Donald McKay. The National Park Service names these four men as Naval architects of national significance in the 19th century.
At the age of 19, John Willis Griffiths was employed as a draftsman in Gosport Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, in the Page & Allen Shipyard. He laid the lines for the frigate Macedonian, designing the fastest frigate in the United States Navy.
His aptitude for math and physics, as well as his understanding of the sea and ships led him to use mathematical equations and ‘tank tests,’ not trial and error, as did most contemporary shipbuilders. John was an advocate for a scientific approach to shipbuilding, and began writing about his theories.
Griffiths’ articles, expressing his radical views on naval architecture published in the Portsmouth Advocate in 1836, brought him to the attention of the owners of the Smith & Dimon Shipyard, and they convinced John to return to New York.
His experimentation with shipbuilding procedures was informed by his earlier reading of an obscure British publication: Nautical and Hydraulic Experiments, with numerous scientific miscellanies, by Colonel Mark Beaufoy. British shipbuilding authorities had dismissed Beaufoy’s ideas, and his work gathered dust for 35 years. After reading the papers, John confirmed Beaufoy’s work through his own experiments, and then continued his testing.
The radical hull design Griffiths exhibited at the American Institute in New York in 1841 contradicted hundreds of years of sailing ship construction conventions. Griffiths did not subscribe to the “cod’s head and mackerel’s tail” configuration of his critics, but to a V-shaped hull with sharpened bow and flat, broad stern.
In 1842 John Willis Griffiths delivered the first lectures in the United States on naval architecture in New York and other cities. The more conservative naval architects often opposed and ridiculed Griffiths’ theories, but over time many young ship builders embraced and followed his innovations.
William Henry Aspinwall commissioned Griffiths in 1843 to design what has been called the first clipper ship. Built to Griffiths’ new model, Rainbow was launched from the shipyard at Smith & Dimon 22 January 1845. The ship was deridingly nicknamed Aspinwall’s Folly until it made Hong Kong in 99 days and returned to New York in a record-breaking 84. Speed was the essence of the clipper as Rainbow reached an unheard-of 14 knots, and speed established Griffiths’ reputation as America’s foremost ship designer.
John Willis Griffiths continued to improve his designs, work on ship-related inventions, and write relentlessly about his theories and work. He opened a free school for instruction in shipbuilding. In 1846 his design improvements culminated in the clipper ship, Sea Witch, noted for her speed and a much sharper bow. Griffiths basked in the limelight of Sea Witch’s success, and spoke with fervor when praising the ship. He wrote, “The model of the Sea Witch had more influence upon the subsequent configuration of fast vessels than any other ship ever built in the United States.”
In 1849 the Griswold Brothers, hoping to reap huge profits by investing in the China tea trade during the boom days of clipper ships, commissioned John W. Griffiths to build the Challenge. His continued design refinements included further sharpening the bow, producing the first extreme clipper.
John Willis Griffiths' most important writing was the Treatise on Marine and Naval Architecture (New York, 1850; 4th ed. 2 vols. 1854) that was republished in England and was widely sold throughout Europe. Its publication greatly advanced American ship building stature throughout the world, and brought to its author orders for ship drawings from most maritime nations.
By the 1850s, the New York Shipyards were leaders in marine technology where Griffiths’ theories and designs had become established convention. Rise of New York Ports notes that John Willis Griffiths wrote in 1851, New York shipbuilding is "the standard of nearly all parts of the commercial world. I speak advisedly, having been called on from all parts of Europe for New York models, both in regard to the form of the hull and the manner of doing work."
His steamship models shown at the 1850 World Exhibit in London garnered great attention. In 1853 Griffiths designed a steamer to cross the Atlantic in seven days. The New York Daily Times August 13, 1853 article states, “John W. Griffiths has on the stocks steamer William Norris. ‘Her model and proportions will’, says the builder, ‘ differ from anything yet afloat.’” This steamer, though not completed to his designs, made fastest time between Havana and New Orleans.
The end of 1853 saw the end of the clipper ship building boom, and the ever forward-looking mind of Griffiths was driving the rapid development of the steamship. That year also saw the publication of his 2-volume The Ship-Builder’s Manual.
In 1854 he became part owner and co-editor with William W. Bates of the United States Nautical Magazine and Naval Journal. The journal publication was suspended when Griffiths was appointed by the United States government in 1858 as special naval-constructor to build the U.S gunboat Pawnee. Griffiths built the gunboat at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The heavy ships’ guns added weight, and so he modified the Pawnee, making it longer and broader than others of its class in order to meet the requirement of having a draft of 10 feet or less. This combination of shallow draft and 9-inch guns proved useful as the Pawnee saw action which included being dispatched in April 1861 to Norfolk to secure the ships and stores of the Gosport Navy Yard (where Griffiths had been a draftsman as a young man), patrolling the Potomac River, and joining the Atlantic Blockade Squadron at Hampton Roads.
Griffiths invented a timber-bending machine in 1864, and this machine was used in building New Era in Boston at the Charlestown shipyard in 1870.
An article in the New York Herald, March 28, 1870, headlined Decline of American Commerce: It’s Causes and the Remedy, recounts the appearance of John W. Griffiths of Boston in Washington, D.C, on March 27th before the Committee on the Decline of American Commerce, and his submission of a written statement of his views. He shared expertise based on his 47 years in the shipyards of his country.
In 1872 private contractor Griffiths began the building of the U.S. Ship Enterprise in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This was the fifth USS Enterprise, a bark-rigged screw sloop-of-war, launched 13 June 1874 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine.
He was a prolific writer, and in 1875-6 The Progressive Ship-Builder (2 volumes) was published. Inventor Griffiths received two prize medals for his machines in Philadelphia at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. From 1879-1882 he edited a weekly journal, American Ship<, in New York.
Alexander Laing in the book American Ships states, John Willis Griffiths “established naval architecture in the United States as a profession based on theoretical hydrostatics.”