John G. Hanna
Encyclopedia
John Griffin Hanna was a sailboat
Sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...

 designer, famous for designing the Tahiti ketch. Hanna was born in Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

, on October 12, 1889. Around 1917, he settled in Dunedin, Florida
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. The population was 35,691 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 36,632...

, and was greatly influenced by the Greek double-ended sponge boats found in nearby Tarpon Springs, Florida
Tarpon Springs, Florida
Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 21,003 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 22,554....

. Shortly after his move to Dunedin, Hanna purchased a double-ended ketch
Ketch
A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...

-rigged sponge boat that had been built in Apalachicola, Florida
Apalachicola, Florida
Apalachicola is a city in Franklin County, Florida, on US 98 about southwest of Tallahassee. The population was 2,334 at the 2000 census. The 2005 census estimated the city's population at 2,340...

 by a Greek-American shipwright named Demo George. This vessel, and others that Hanna studied, would inspire the design of Hanna's famous Tahiti ketch.

At least two boats of Hannas' design have circumnavigated the world twice. Jean Gau in the Atom; and Tom Steele in the Adios. (Don Holm, The Circumnavigators page 355).

Hanna's design is mentioned in Modern Mechanix and How to Build 20 Boats,.
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