On the afternoon of June 9, 1772, the British customs schooner Gaspee ran aground in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay while pursuing a packet boat named Hannah. Seeing the Gaspee stuck, and knowing she would remain grounded until high tide after midnight, the Hannah’s captain Thomas Lindsey rushed into Providence and found John Brown, a leader of the Rhode Island Sons of Liberty (and later the founder of Brown University). This a chance to put an end to the Gaspee, they concluded.
For the previous six months the Gaspee, under the command of Lt. William Dudingston, had been aggressively enforcing British customs duties—boarding and seizing suspected smugglers in the bay, harassing merchants ashore, and according to the colonials, destroying fishing vessels and insulting and bullying local sailors and fishermen. In February Dudingston and the Gaspee had seized a sloop called Fortune (which belonged to future major general Nathanael Greene), found to be carrying undeclared rum, and sent the vessel to Boston for trial. Rhode Islanders protested that requiring a trial outside of Rhode Island violated the colony’s charter and infringed the rights of its governor and citizens. Dudingston ignored the protests and stepped up Gaspee’s aggressive searches, boardings, and seizures. By the time they found themselves stuck in the bay, the Gaspee and Lt. Dudingston were hated by the colonists of Rhode Island.
Brown summoned the Sons of Liberty and on a moonless night about 100 of them rowed out to the Gaspee, in eight longboats with muffled oars. As the boats drew near, Dudingston leaned over the side of his ship and shouted “Who goes there?”
Abraham Whipple (future Continental Navy commodore) yelled back, “I am the sheriff. I have a warrant to apprehend you. So surrender, God d—n you!”
Seeing the despised Dudingston exposed, 18-year-old Joseph Bucklin raised his gun and fired, striking Dudingston in the arm and groin. Rhode Islanders claim it was the first shot of the American Revolution.
The Sons of Liberty swarmed aboard the Gaspee and quickly overwhelmed and secured its crew. Fortunately for Lt. Dudingston, one of the raiders was a young colonial doctor named John Mawney. Dr. Mawney stanched the bleeding from Dudingston’s severed artery, saving his life. Dudingston would go on to enjoy a long and prosperous career.
Once the Gaspee’s crew were all ashore, the Sons of Liberty set fire to the ship. It burned to the waterline, exploding when the fire reached the powder magazine.
British authorities were understandably furious, declaring that the men who attacked the Gaspee were guilty of treason and would be arrested, transported to England for trial, and hanged.
But no one in the colony stepped forward to identify the raiders or provide any information about the incident, even after the British government offered a substantial reward. To the chagrin of royal authorities, no one was ever arrested for participation in the attack.
Boston Rev. John Allen’s pamphlet “An Oration on the Beauties of Liberty” was inspired by the Gaspee Affair. In the pamphlet, which became an oft-quoted favorite of John Adams and James Otis, Allen decried unjust British acts and questioned the legitimacy of royal authority over the colonies. Meanwhile, the threat to transport the accused to England for trial alarmed the colonists throughout North America, leading them to form committees of correspondence and further uniting them in opposition to British authority.
The British ship Gaspee was captured and burned by the Rhode Island Sons of Liberty on June 9, 1772, two hundred fifty years ago today.
In 1775 Abraham Whipple was commanding a small flotilla of Patriot vessels facing off against the British Frigate HMS Rose. The commander of the Rose sent a message to Whipple:
"From Captain Sir James Wallace of the Rose:
You, Abraham Whipple, on the 10th of June 1772, burned His Majesty’s vessel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you at the yard-arm.—James Wallace."
Whipple sent back a brief reply:
"To Sir James Wallace, Sir: Always catch a man before you hang him.—Abraham Whipple."
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