''Griffin'' was the name of a 17th-century ship known to have sailed between

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and English settlements along

Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of Massachusetts. Description The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its northern and sout ...

British America British America collectively refers to various British colonization of the Americas, colonies of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and its predecessors states in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1 ...

. Several historical and genealogical references show ''Griffin'' making such journeys in 1633 and 1634. The 1633 journey left from Downs, England, and landed at

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

on September 3. This 1633 journey carried religious dissidents, including

Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational church, Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was know ...

Samuel Stone Samuel Stone (July 18, 1602 – 20 July 1663) was an English Puritan minister and co-founder of Hartford, Connecticut. Biography Stone was born in Hertford, the county town of Hertfordshire, England. The name of the town is pronounced "Ha ...

, John Cotton, and others totaling 200 people. The ship ''Griffin'' weighed in at 300 tons and she saw the birth of at least one child, Seaborn Cotton, during the 1633 voyage. In 1634 ''Griffin'' carried

Anne Hutchinson Anne Hutchinson (; July 1591 – August 1643) was an English-born religious figure who was an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her strong religious formal d ...

to the Massachusetts colony. Hutchinson's oldest son had preceded her the previous year, also on ''Griffin''. There are at least several other ships known to have used ''Griffin'' or similar names in preceding or following centuries. Most if not all such non-17th-century references probably refer to another vessel carrying the same name, such as the Danish warship '' Griffen'', which sailed the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

in the late 15th century, or Robert de La Salle's ship ''

Le Griffon ''Le Griffon'' (, ''The Griffin'') was a sailing vessel built by French explorer and fur trader René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in the Niagara area of New York in 1679. ''Le Griffon'' was constructed and launched at or near Cayuga I ...

'', which sailed the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

in the late 17th century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin (Ship) English emigration Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts Plymouth Colony Plymouth, Massachusetts Sailing ships Individual sailing vessels 1630s ships