Griffin

[Grffin]

Good afternoon to whom I am writing.  In 1634 my family came from England to America on a ship named Griffin.  I am trying  to find a wood model of this ship if one exists.  It would be fun building something that has a reason to exists in my home.  Should someone know of another ship close in appearance, I would possibly be interested.  I'm sure there are not models of all older ships.  Please provide me contact information.  Thanking you in advance.  Tom W. Sisson

[ccoyle]

I can pretty much guarantee that a kit of Griffin doesn't exist, but that's not unexpected when one considers that thousands of wooden sailing ships plied American waters over the centuries; only the tiniest fraction have ever been modeled. Do you have any information at all on what kind of ship Griffin was?

[Ron Burns]

Would this possibly be it?

https://www.geni.com/projects/Great-Migration-Passengers-of-the-Griffin-1633/18457

 

Just grasping at straws and trying to be useful

[Louie da fly]

Sounds like it could be the same ship - name and date are right. Tom, do you have any other information, such as where your ancestors disembarked? If it was Plymouth, the chances of it being the same ship are pretty good.

 

Having said that, the only info about the ship itself is that its burthen was 300 tons (which means it could carry 300 tun barrels of wine) and that it was sailing in 1634. This narrows it down a little - ships did evolve in design over time - a ship of 1540 and a ship of 1640 had significant differences, for example. On the other hand, merchant ships tended to be rather conservative in design and probably retained old-fashioned characteristics longer than, say, warships. And ships only had a limited lifespan - a ship sailing in 1634 probably wouldn't have been more than, say, 20 years old, but unless she was specifically described as new, she probably wasn't. So, maybe built somewhere between 1610 and 1630?

 

Probably wouldn't have had an open stern gallery - it may have had closed-in galleries, as these were coming about this time. But probably not, as she was a simple merchant ship.

 

From this point on, all you'd be able to do is a generic merchant ship of galleon type from about the right time. There are kits of the Mayflower of 1620 - which is the nearest ship in time and type to yours available - but nobody knows what the Mayflower really looked like, either.

 

That's about it. Sorry not to be able to help more.

 

Steven

[Grffin]

Thanks to Ccoyle, Ron, and Louie de fly for taking the time and responding to my msg.  I'm not really thinking I would actually find this particular ship, but have to ask.  Will try and find a similar designed ship.  I'll look at the Mayflower designs and see how they work for me.  There was not a really good picture of the Griffin but at least I get an idea for size.  Again, thanks for responding.  I have just started looking and also since this is my first ship model need to keep somewhat simple in building.  Take care.  Tom.    

[Louie da fly]

That's fine, Tom. Take your time - it's not a race. When you do decide what to build, make sure you start a build log. It's a great way to get help and advice - and encouragement. The instructions are here:

 

https://modelshipworld.com/topic/24705-before-you-post-your-build-log-please-read-this-starting-and-naming-your-build-log/

 

 

Don't worry about making mistakes - we all do. They become learning experiences for future models.

 

And welcome to the wonderful world of ship modelling!

 

Steven

[JeffT]

Welcome to MSW 

[Edwardkenway]

[mtaylor]

Welcome to MSW, Tom.