The Building of the Griffin 



T 



J. he ship was built in the late winter 

 and spring of 1679 above Niagara Falls, 

 probably at the mouth of Cayuga Creek. 

 A master carpenter, a blacksmith, and 

 fewer than ten other carpenters and 

 workmen built and launched the Griffin 

 in the period between January 22 and 

 May 27, 1679. When one considers that 

 the wood came from trees felled nearby 

 and that all of the ship's timbers and 

 planking had to be cut and shaped in 

 situ, then fitted into place and fastened, 

 it does not seem possible that so few 

 men could have built a ship of any great 

 size in a period of approximately four 

 months. 



SIZE 



A, 



lLTHOUgh there are no direct state- 

 ments concerning the dimensions of the 

 vessel there are statements of her burden 

 or cargo capacity. Hennepin says the 

 Griffin "was but 60 Tuns" burden. In 

 earlier editions of his work he said the 

 ship was about 45 tons burden. It is 

 thus a fair conclusion that the Griffin 

 was of 45 to 60 tons burden. In the 

 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 

 and even now in some cases, such a ton 

 was not a unit of weight but was a unit 

 of space, specifically 40 cubic feet, which 

 can be encompassed in a block four feet 

 long, five feet wide, and two feet deep. If 

 the Griffin was of 60 tons burden she had 

 a capacity of 2,400 cubic feet (60 x 40), 

 which is the equivalent of a box 40 feet 

 long, 10 feet wide, and six feet deep. If 

 the Griffin was of 45 tons burden she had 

 a capacity of 1,800 cubic feet (45 x 40), 

 which is the equivalent of a box 30 feet 

 long, 10 feet wide, and six feet deep. 



The formula for computing tonnage in 

 colonial times, according to Samuel 

 Eliot Morison, was the length of the ship 

 on deck minus three-fifths of the great- 

 est breadth multiplied by the greatest 

 breadth multiplied by the depth of the 

 hold divided by 95. With this formula, 

 the known tonnage of the Griffin, and 

 some additional clues, one can approxi- 

 mate the probable dimensions of La- 

 Salle's vessel. 



One of the additional clues concerns 

 the draught (depth below water line) 

 of the Griffin. On August 24, 1679, the 

 Page 4 MAY 



ship was in Lake Huron, according to 

 Hennepin, "becalm'd between some Is- 

 lands, where we found but two Fathoms 

 Water, which oblig'd us to make an 

 easie sail part of the Night." Thus the 

 Griffin could navigate satisfactorily 

 though cautiously in 12 feet of water. 

 To do this the ship would have had to 

 have a draught of much less than 12 feet. 

 Even a draught of six feet would require 

 extreme caution in sailing through un- 

 chartered waters of two fathoms. 



Another clue involves the proportions 

 of seventeenth century vessels, which 

 were more box-like than nineteenth cen- 

 tury sailing ships. For instance, the 

 breadth of seagoing boats in the seven- 

 teenth century was at least one-third 

 and probably two-fifths of the length. 

 In 1665 the Eaglet of the British South 

 Seas Fleet was 40 feet long and 16 feet 

 wide. This boat was larger than the 

 Griffin, if one accepts Hennepin's earlier 

 statement that the latter was about 45 

 tons burden. 



If the Griffin was of 45 tons burden 

 the available evidence suggests that she 

 was a small vessel, perhaps 37J/2 feet 

 long, with a maximum breadth of 15 

 feet and a depth of 10 feet. These fig- 

 ures fit the colonial formula for a 45-ton 

 vessel. And although the exact dimen- 

 sions of the Griffin are not known at the 

 present time, she certainly must have 

 been not more than 40 feet in length 

 and not more than 16 feet in breadth. 

 She probably had a draught of four or 

 five feet and a freeboard (height above 

 the water line) of five or six feet. 



RIGGING 



J.HE anchors, cables, ropes, sails, rig- 

 ging, and other fittings for the Griffin 

 were shipped from Fort Frontenac by 

 sailing vessels to the head of Lake On- 

 tario, then carried on foot to the tem- 

 porary ship yard above Niagara Falls. 

 Father Hennepin noted that the Griffin 

 was completely finished and rigged by 

 July 4, 1679. 



Father Hennepin wrote very little 

 about the ship's rigging. He mentions 

 a vessel rigged as a brigantine (his use 

 of the term "bark" referred to a small 

 vessel and not a type of rig) on Lake 

 Ontario and should have said so had 

 the Griffin been thus rigged. Henne- 



pin did say that she was "well Rigg'd, 

 and ready fitted out with all the Neces- 

 saries for Sailing." With reference to 

 a storm on Lake Huron, Hennepin 

 wrote, ". . .we brought down our Main 

 Yards and Top-Mast, and let the Ship 

 drive to the Mercy of the Wind. . . ." 

 When the storm was over, "we hoisted 

 up our Sail. . . ." With these few simple 

 but positive statements it is possible to 

 make some observations about the rig- 

 ging of the Griffin. 



The mention of a "Top-Mast" and 

 "Main Yards" suggests that the Griffin 

 was not rigged as a ketch. The ketch 

 of this period was rigged with lateen 

 (triangular) sails and did not need top- 

 masts. Moreover, the ketch rig would 

 have had only one main yard (set diag- 

 onally) and Hennepin's use of "Yards" 

 implies that there was more than one 

 yard on the mainmast. Had the Griffin 

 been rigged as a ship or a brig there 

 should have been more than one top- 

 mast to bring down during a storm such 

 as he describes. Also, in such an in- 

 stance there should have been only one 

 main yard and a number of other yards 

 to bring down. And finally, ship or 

 brig or brigantine rigging, unless unusu- 

 ally modified, should have been too com- 

 plicated for a pilot and five men to 

 handle on the return voyage to Niagara. 



The only direct evidence from Hen- 

 nepin's account suggests that the Griffin 

 had a mainmast, a main-topmast, and 

 two yards for square sails that were set 

 on this compound mast. In short, the 

 driving sails were on the mainmast and 

 by implication any other sails used must 

 have been very small and set on a mast 

 or masts that could have been removed 

 from the deck by one or two persons 

 and did not require shrouds for their 

 support. Such small sails, if present, 

 were used for balance and ease of steer- 

 ing. The only driving sails were on the 

 mainmast. 



That such rigging was known in the 

 seventeenth century is demonstrated by 

 the pictorial embellishments on the 

 Franquelin map of 1 689. On that map, 

 in the area of the Gulf of Mexico, are 

 pictured two small sailing vessels 30 to 

 40 feet long, each with a large mainmast 

 and a small foremast stepped close to 

 the bow and tilted forward. The two 

 large driving sails, both square in out- 



