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Personal Sketches of Marine Men Capt. James Griffiths, President, James Griffiths @ Sons By Robert C. Hill S EARED shipping, Capt. in an atmosphere of James Griffiths naturally became interested from early youth in maritime affairs. For more than forty years he has been a pioneer in shipping in the North Pacific. He is one of those early on Puget sound who correctly vizualized the and his vision has made him one of the out- settlers future, standing figures of the Pacific coast. In the 42 years since he came to Puget sound, Captain Griffiths has seen majestic square riggers give way to wooden steamers, these in turn to coal burning steel vessels, and the latter to oil-burning and diesel overseas freighters of largest tonnage. Commerce on the North Pacific has grown from nothing to its present large proportions and he has been identified with practically every successful shipping enterprise during this long period. He built at Tacoma the first sea going tug to ply the waters of Puget sound, and as representative of the Northern Pacific railway he handled in this port the first shipments of tea to arrive from the Orient. These came in the barks ISABEL and ARTIZAN and the American ship A. G. Ropes. His firm imported the first cargo of cement, pig iron, salt and general merchandise direct from Europe to Puget sound and it was the agent for the first sailing ships which brought in rails for use in the construction of local railroads which later became units of the transcontinental system. Captain Griffiths was the pioneer in the operation of dismantled sailing ships as barges in tow in North Pacific waters, his first venture of this nature being the barge LupLOWw which carried a cargo of coal to San Francisco in tow of the tug CoLLis. He was manager of the Pacific Barge Co., owners of the famous whale- ROM sea-faring people, a shipping pioneer who combines imagination with hard practical common sense and a buoyant enthusiastic nature. IS courage and resourcefulness have never faltered in making good his faith in the steady growth of shipping to the Pacific Northwest. ACHTING is his recreation. His love of the sport and friendly per- sonality, have made him the best know yachtsman on the Pacific coast. back steamer CHARLES W. WETMORE which brought the first cargo direct from the Atlantic to Puget sound in 1891. During the rush to Alaska in 1898 he purchased a Japanese steamer, placed her under the American flag as the CENTENNIAL, and fitted her for service to the gold coast. In more recent years he established regular service from the mines in Alaska and British Columbia to Puget sound ports. His latest success has been in con- nection with the operations of the Standard Gypsum Co., in moving raw material from San Marcos island, Gulf of California to plants at Los Angeles and Seattle. A steamship and barge service has also been established from the North Pacific to Central and South America, the fleet returning with raw gypsum from Mexican waters. Perhaps Captain Griffiths’ most outstanding contribu- tion to the shipping of the North Pacific was his work in helping to establish regular steamship communica- tion between Puget sound and the Orient. With his native vision he saw the opportunity for building up a. great volume of trade across the Pacific. He brought to successful conclusion negotiations between the late James J. Hill as head of the Great Northern railway and the Nippon Yusen Kaisha for a steamship service between Japan and the Northwest thus furnishing through service from Japan to the Eastern section of the Amer- ican continent. This service was inaugurated by the steamship MIIKE Maru on Aug. 30, 1896, one of the most memorable dates in Seattle’s history, and has functioned. ever since, con- tinually improved and augmented as_ trade with the Orient has grown beyond all expectations. Born at Newport, Eng. in 1861, Captain Griffiths obtained his education in the Newport national schools 38 MARINE REVIEW—May, 1927