Sydney S. Griffin, Merchant Mariner

Sydney Steven Griffin, a longtime resident of Northwest Landing Road in East Hampton and a dedicated merchant seaman, died on Christmas Day at Southampton Hospital. He was 76 and had been in declining health for several years.

Mr. Griffin graduated from the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point in 1960, going to work on tankers and freighters. At 25, he achieved master ranking, becoming the youngest person to captain ships of unlimited tonnage since World War II. After leaving the merchant marine, he went to work in 1965 on Columbia University research vessels. One of his sons, Sydney Griffin Jr. of Hampton Bays, recalled how excited he was when his father took him along. The task was to scoop up material from the ocean floor so that scientists could examine it.

Mr. Griffin worked for Columbia for 10 years, eventually contracting with the Navy’s Military Sealift Command to transport troops and supplies to ports around the world. Navy Commodore J.W. Arens commended Mr. Griffin for his performance during the Persian Gulf War, writing that his ship, the U.S.N.S. Antares, had “performed to the highest standards.”

Toward the end of his seagoing career, Mr. Griffin ran cruise ships around the Hawaiian Islands, which, his sister Kathleen Griffin of Hilton Head, S.C., said in an email, was probably his favorite assignment.

He was born in the Bronx on Aug. 8 1938, to Sydney Griffin and the former Catherine McEnery. “His parents purchased a cottage on Northwest Creek in 1952,” his sister said, which was without running water or electricity. He was 14 at the time, and the cottage was his magical escape from the housing projects in the Bronx where he was growing up. Spending teen summers in East Hampton, surrounded by water, nurtured his love of the sea.

Mr. Griffin has lived in the Northwest Woods house for the past 38 years, calling it home for at least part of the year for the past 60 years. He is survived by his life companion of the last 25 years, Margery Hadar, and three children, who, in addition to Sydney Griffin of Hampton Bays, are a son, Luke Griffin of Tucson, Ariz., and a daughter, Spencer Shea of Pittsburgh. He also is survived by another sister, Mary Hall of Seaford, and by four grandchildren.

The family plans to hold a memorial service on Aug. 8, his birthday.