So as the title states i have 2 Brothers that came from Belfast to Philadelphia on the Snow GEORGE on sept 22, 1803. I have tried googling around myself but to not much luck on finding out more about the ship itself. My ultimate goal would be to someday be able to make a model of the ship to display but i need to learn more about it first, and being from Oklahoma.. i know zero about ships. Any information/resources you could throw at me would be great!
here is a link to the persons list for the ship and you can see my two ancestors highlighted.
A snow, pronounced Sna-Ow is a specific type of sailing rig that can be easily identified by its double rear mast. The wiki article is short but does a good job describing it with a decent graphic. The Brig Niagara on Lake Erie is a snow. In this picture you can clearly see the small third mast used to support the spanker sail. It's the thin dark mast nestled against the yellow rear mast.
George is a common name and without more information insurance records are not going to be of much use to you. The publication you want is American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping if you still want to take a crack at it. Just Llyod's Register of Shipping for non-American vessels (these are separate annual publications). Llyod's for 1803 happens to be online if you want to peruse it, scan quality isn't great though. Each volume includes a lengthy introduction that explains the abbreviations used in the records. Depending on the year snows may be listed as brigs, you'll have to check the intro to see if they are listed separately.
Your best bet is probably going to be to try and find the records of the Philadelphia harbor master for the day in question and see what taxes/port fees were accessed against the vessel on the day in question. They may include additional information on its size and owner which could help narrow your search. If you're lucky they might even include the official number of the vessel which is the most sure way to pick a specific ship out of insurance records. I doubt such materials are online anywhere honestly. Most likely if they still exist (and they could be called almost anything) they are in an archive somewhere.
You might also take a poke around newspapercat looking for advertisements pertaining to the vessel in question. http://ufdc.ufl.edu/hnccoll/exact/?t=%22Philadelphia%22&f=CI
I would start my search with a telephone call to the city archive if I were you. Archivists are paid to ferret out these kinds of documents and are usually happy to assist researchers.
All that accomplished odds are good you still won't find plans for the ship. Most blueprints, when they were created at all, were not preserved so its something of a crap shoot. If they still exist there is no telling where they will end up. The plans for one of Donald McKay's famous American build clippers, Star of Empire IIRC, are in a museum in Norway. With patience you should be able to dig up records on the ship you want, but I wouldn't expect to find plans unless you are very lucky.
Snow is the type of ship. It is the name for two masted sloops.
In Lloyds register of ships from 1802 there are about 30 ships named George, only three of them are snows.
There is one that looks interesting, the third hit in "George" at line 101 of the "G" ships, a snow "George" owned by G. Waite, 220 tons, N. Eng, age 7 , Beck and Co, 15 foot draft, American owned, surveyed in London and Philadelphia, given an "A" rating in 1800.
http://www.lr.org/about_us/shipping_information/Lloyds_Register_of_Ships_online.aspx
http://books.google.ie/books?id=ujc4AAAAMAAJ&lr&as_brr=1&pg=PP1#v=snippet&q=George&f=false
edit: Looking at other years I see it operating to Philadelphia as early as 1801. In 1804 P. Bell became the captain. In 1805 it was downgraded to 'E' rating. in 1807 Pullingley became captain.
In 1803 there is also a 108 ton sheathed brig named George that goes London and Phil.
