John Griffin Hanna (1889–1948) was a

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

designer, famous for designing the Tahiti ketch. Hanna was born in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

, on October 12, 1889. During his childhood he was afflicted with deafness following scarlet fever and lost a foot in a traffic accident. Around 1917, he settled in

Dunedin, Florida Dunedin is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The name comes from ''Dùn Èideann'', the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area and is ...

, and was greatly influenced by the Greek double-ended

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

boats found in nearby

Tarpon Springs, Florida Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the US. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal po ...

. Shortly after his move to Dunedin, Hanna purchased a double-ended

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...

-rigged sponge boat that had been built in

Apalachicola, Florida Apalachicola ( ) is a city and the county seat of Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census. History The Apalachicola people, after ...

by a

Greek-American Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest es ...

shipwright Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

named Demo George. This vessel, and others that Hanna studied, would inspire the design of Hanna's famous Tahiti ketch. Hanna died in 1948. Hanna originally wrote of his Tahiti ketch as a deep-sea auxiliary cruiser. The design is described and illustrated in detail in the 1935 new edition of ''How to build 20 boats'', pp. 118–133. Hanna designed a research vessel, ''Iorano'', for amphibian tractor inventor

Donald Roebling Donald Roebling (November 15, 1908 – August 29, 1959) was an eccentric twentieth-century American philanthropist, engineer, industrial designer, and inventor. He was the great-grandson of John A. Roebling, who began the design of the Brooklyn ...

, which was constructed on Roebling's own property, and which took part in a Smithsonian-connected scientific expedition led by

Paul Bartsch Paul Bartsch (14 August 1871 Tuntschendorf, Silesia – 24 April 1960 McLean, Virginia) was an American malacologist and carcinologist. He was named the last of those belonging to the "Descriptive Age of Malacology". Early life Bartsch emigrate ...

in 1937. His 1926 Story-built ketch ''Faith'' was later purchased by director

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

and renamed ''Araner''. Ford, a naval reservist, used the boat both for personal recreation and for naval intelligence. The boat was later taken into

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

service directly as during World War II. At least two boats of Hanna's design have circumnavigated the world twice: Jean Gau in the ''Atom''; and Tom Steele in the ''Adios''. Hanna was a gifted small vessel designer, but perhaps his greatest strength -and weakness- was as a writer and critic of other's designs. He was let go by the ''Rudder'' after a drawn-out feud with L. Francis Herreshoff, who was also a columnist there, and debated acerbically with Thomas C. Gillmer over ''Tahiti's'' design antecedents, as well as with

Philip Rhodes Philip Leonard Rhodes (1895–1974) was an Americans, American naval architect known for his diverse yacht designs. Life Rhodes designed a wide variety of vessels from 7' dinghies to 123' motor-sailors, from hydrofoil racers to America's Cup win ...

, and Howard Chapelle.

References

1889 births 1948 deaths People from Dunedin, Florida People from Galveston, Texas {{shipping-bio-stub