Maurice Walter Griffiths (22 May 1902 – 11 October 1997) was a noted

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

sman, boat designer and writer on sailing subjects. In his writing of some 19 books he focused on the creeks of the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

and the English east coast. His books include ''The Magic of the Swatchways'', ''The First of the Tide'', ''Yachting on a Small Income'', and ''Sixty Years a Yacht Designer''. He was the editor of ''

Yachting Monthly ''Yachting Monthly'' is a monthly magazine about yachting published by Future PLC. It is edited by Theo Stocker. History and profile At its launch in 1906, from the offices of The Field, ''The Manchester Guardian'' reviewed the first issue descr ...

'', the British sailing magazine, from 1927 until 1967.

Biography

Early years

Maurice's family had moved from South London to

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

in 1903 when his father became the East of England representative for a glove manufacturer . In London they had lived opposite a railway line and Maurice's early love was trains. His first job was with an estate agent but in his spare time he wrote articles about trains for the ''

East Anglian Daily Times The ''East Anglian Daily Times'' is a British local newspaper for Suffolk and Essex, based in Ipswich. History The newspaper began publication on 13 October 1874, incorporating the ''Ipswich Express'', which had been published since 13 August ...

'' and it was train travel that soon led him to

docks where he discovered boating. He started a small yacht brokerage and in the course of this work he learnt a lot about sailing and boat building. In 1925 he published a little book called ''Yachting on a Small Income'', which sold well on railway station platforms. His father died suddenly leaving the family in considerable debt and the family home had to be sold. His mother Lena, and older brother Leslie, moved to the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

to stay with relatives. Maurice's brokerage business folded so he decided to try his luck selling yachting articles freelance in London. It was a struggle; his health was to never fully recover from this experience.

Editorship

George Bittles, the publisher of ''Yachting Monthly'', had bought Griffiths' book at his local railway station and believed he would be the right person to edit a new magazine called ''Yacht Sales and Charters'', basically a yacht brokerage with its own magazine. Griffiths made such a success of this that other brokers threatened to stop advertising in ''Yachting Monthly'' if the new magazine continued. That magazine was stopped but Griffiths had proven himself and was given the position of Editor of ''Yachting Monthly''. In 1927 he married Dulcie Kennard whom he had met while visiting the offices of yachting magazines, trying to sell his articles. She also wrote for the yachting press under the name Peter Gerard. They were divorced in 1934.

War years

As a

lieutenant-commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

Griffiths was awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in circ ...

for "gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty" in recognition of his work trawling for mines in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

as well as deactivating parachute mines dropped on the

London Docks London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Newham, and Greenwich. The docks were formerly part of the Port of L ...

during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

and also his command of a group of divers clearing mines from the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

. Later in the war he had responsibility for the design and fitting of the explosive charges that sank 77 condemned ships off the coast of Normandy, where they formed part of the Mulberry Harbour used during

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

and after in 1944. He met his second wife, Marjorie, known as "Coppie" from her maiden name of Copson in December 1944 while based with the

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

HMS Vernon Two ships and a training establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Vernon'', possibly after Admiral Edward Vernon: * was a 14-gun armed ship listed between 1781 and 1782. * was a 50-gun fourth rate launched in 1832. She became ...

. Coppie died about nine months before her husband and there were no children from either marriage.

Post-War

After the war he returned to ''Yachting Monthly''. The invention of marine plywood and fibreglass now enabled his boat designs to be mass-produced. The most successful were the Eventide 24, soon followed by the 26, and the Waterwitch 30. These, along with his other designs, proved to be good seaworthy craft but he was under no illusions about their aesthetic appeal, once saying: "If you ever see a barrel or box with rudder and sails, it'll be one of my designs." A biography of Griffiths, ''The Magician of the Swatchways'' was written by Dick Durham and published in 1994.

Bibliography

Boat designs

EVENTIDE 24
1957
EVENTIDE 26
1957
WATERWITCH 30 MKI
1957
WATERWITCH 30 MKII
1959
MEDUSA 25
1960
GOLDEN HIND 31
1968
BARBICAN 33
1972
ATLANTIC CLIPPER 36
1973
FINESSE 27
1980

References

External links

Maurice Griffiths biography
on Eventide Owners Association
Sailboat designs of Maurice Griffiths
on Sailboatdata.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Maurice British yacht designers Recipients of the George Medal 1902 births 1997 deaths