N act of violence committed by the colonists of Rhode Island, excited general
attention, from its significance as an indication of the height to which the
general current of American sentiment was rising (1772). The commander of
the Gaspee, an armed British schooner stationed at Providence, had
exerted much activity in supporting the trade laws
and punishing the increasing contraband traffic of tile Americans; and had
provoked additional resentment hy firing at the Providence packets, in order to
compel them to salute his flag by lowering theirs as they passed his vessel, and
by chasing them even into the docks, in case of refusal.
The master of a packet conveying passengers to Providence (June 9), which was fired at and chased by the Gaspee for neglecting to pay the requisite tribute of respect, took advantage of the state of the tide (it being almost high water), to stand in so closely to the shore, that the Gaspee, in the pursuit, might be exposed to run aground. The artifice succeeded; the Gaspee presently stuck fast, and the packet proceeded in triumph to Providence, where a strong sensation was excited by the tidings of the occurrence, and a project was hastily formed to improve the blow and destroy the obnoxious vessel. Brown, an eminent merchant, and Whipple, a ship-master, took the lead in this bold adventure, and easily collected a sufficient band of armed and resolute men, with whom they embarked in whale-boats to attack the British ship-of-war. At two o'clock the next morning (June 10), they boarded the Gaspee so suddenly and in such numbers, that her crew were instantly overpowered, without hurt to anyone except her commanding officer, who was wounded. The captors, having despatched a part of their number to convey him together with his private effects and his crew ashore, set fire to the Gaspee, and destroyed her with all her stores.
But no trial took place. Nobody came forward to claim the proffered reward; some persons, who were apprehended in the hope that they might be induced by threats and terror to become witnesses, were enabled by popular assistance to escape before any information could be extracted from them; and in the commencement of the following year, the commissioners reported to the British ministry their inability, notwithstanding the most diligent inquisition, to procure evidence or information against a single individual.
