Gaspee Affair
The Gaspee Affair was a significant confrontation between American colonists and British authorities that occurred on June 9, 1772, in Rhode Island, prior to the American Revolution. The incident began when HMS Gaspee, a British customs schooner tasked with enforcing trade regulations, ran aground while pursuing a local ship, the Hannah. Seizing the opportunity, a group of Rhode Island merchants and traders attacked the stranded ship, ultimately boarding it, capturing its crew, and setting it ablaze. This bold act of defiance was fueled by local resentment towards the ship's captain, Lieutenant William Dudingston, who was perceived as overreaching in his authority.
In the aftermath, British authorities struggled to identify those responsible for the attack and issued threats of treason charges against the participants. However, no one was ever tried, as conflicting testimonies hampered investigations. The Gaspee Affair highlighted the growing tensions between the colonies and Britain, serving as a catalyst for colonial unity and resistance. It foreshadowed future acts of rebellion, such as the Boston Tea Party, and influenced the formation of the First Continental Congress in 1774. Today, the anniversary of the Gaspee Affair is commemorated in Rhode Island, reflecting its lasting significance in American history.
Gaspee Affair
The Gaspee Affair was a conflict between the British and the Americans in the leadup to the American Revolution. HMS Gaspee was a British ship charged with controlling trade in and around Rhode Island. On June 9, 1772, it ran aground while chasing an American ship called the Hannah. Its captain could not get it free, so he decided to wait until tides rose in the area. Before that could happen, merchants, traders, and other colonists from Rhode Island rowed out, attacked the ship, boarded it, raided it for documents, and eventually burned it. While the British threatened those who did this with charges of treason and trials in Britain, they could not determine who participated. The Gaspee affair and the British response was one factor that motivated the colonies to decide to band together against Britain. The meeting that resulted from that decision was the First Continental Congress.
Background
The British had won the French and Indian War, which they called the Seven Years’ War in 1763, but it left them with debt. It also left them with large swathes of territory that they needed to figure out how to control quickly.
The monarchy decided that the colonists needed to cover what the crown had paid for the war and also thought that cracking down on the whole country would give them more control over it. Thus, they passed several acts that the colonists in America did not like. These included the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, as well as other laws that would result in American money getting shipped off to England.
Rhode Island was known for its trade, both legal and illegal. Many ships that sailed in and out of Narragansett Bay relied on both kinds of trade to stay in business. To this end, the British assigned their new schooner, the Gaspee, to patrol the waters off Rhode Island. The ship was captained by Lieutenant William Dudingston, who was disliked not only for the job he was doing but also for the way he was doing it. Rhode Islanders considered him to be rude and arrogant and believed he did not have the authority to detain or investigate ships in the bay.
Correspondence went back and forth with England, who insisted that Dudingston be allowed to operate as he had been. He continued detaining ships and going through cargo, even on tiny packet ships. His work was negatively affecting the economy in Rhode Island and beyond, and the colonists began to discuss retribution. When the governor of Rhode Island, Joseph Wanton, demanded that he disembark from Gaspee and show papers proving his right to do what he was doing in Narragansett Bay, he only returned a rude reply and refused to leave his ship.
The situation escalated, with the Americans and the British eventually exchanging shots. While both sides backed down during that incident, the overall situation continued to worsen.
Overview
On June 9, 1772, the Gaspee saw the small packet boat, Hannah, sailing north from Newport to Providence. The Gaspee chased the smaller boat. To get away and avoid having their cargo seized, the captain of the Hannah sailed across an area of shallow water. Because it was a small ship, it made it past without a problem. The Gaspee, however, was much larger and ran aground in the shallow area. Dudingston and his men tried to push and dig it free, but it was stuck. They decided to wait until the tide came in to try again.
However, the colonists saw this as their chance to get revenge against the captain they disliked and get rid of the Gaspee once and for all. They met at Sabin’s Tavern in Providence, Rhode Island, and hatched their plan. Using night’s darkness as their cover, they rowed out to where the Gaspee was marooned. There, they fired on the ship. An eighteen-year-old man named Joseph Bucklin shot Dudingston. The colonists boarded the ship, tended to the wounded, then captured them and transported them back to Providence. They also looked through many of the documents on the ship before they burned it.
Rhode Island’s officials began investigating the incident the next day. They took statements from the Gaspee’s crew and issued a reward for any information. Aaron Briggs (or Biggs) was an indentured servant who ran away and ended up on another British ship during his flight for freedom. He gave information about the Gaspee affair, though others refused to back him up. Two other indentured servants in the same household, Jack and Somerset, gave evidence that directly contradicted Biggs’.
King George was furious and began threatening to bring anyone accused of participating in the affair to England for trial. The only way he could do this was by accusing them of treason, though he did pass the Dockyard Act later, which said that people accused of burning British ships would also be sent to England for trial.
Despite this and forming a Gaspee Commission in the colonies, no one was ever tried for the affair. People gave contradictory testimonies, with some having been coerced. After ten months, the Commission gave up and told King George that they could not hold anyone definitively responsible for what had happened.
The Gaspee affair showed the colonists that they could band together against the British and render them nearly harmless in the colonies. It paved the way for events like the Boston Tea Party in December 1773. However, it also showed them that Britain was a danger in ways they had not expected. The plan to transport the people accused of crimes against Dudingston and the Gaspee to England for trial undermined the authority that had supposedly been given to the colonies. Because of this and other incidents, the colonists believed that they needed to formally band together against the British, which led to the meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774. The anniversary of the Gaspee affair is still noted in Rhode Island today.
Bibliography
“Gaspee Cast of Characters.” Rhode Island Department of State, 28 Mar. 2022, www.sos.ri.gov/divisions/civics-and-education/for-educators/themed-collections/gaspee/cast-of-characters. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
“Gaspee Timeline.” Rhode Island Department of State, 6 Jan. 2022, www.sos.ri.gov/divisions/civics-and-education/for-educators/themed-collections/gaspee-timeline/. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
Gosling, Daniel. “The Burning of HMS Gaspee.” The National Archives (UK), 9 June 2022, blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/the-burning-of-hms-gaspee/. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
Messer, Peter C. “A Most Insulting Violation the Burning of the HMS “Gaspee” and the Delaying of the American Revolution.” New England Quarterly, Dec. 2015, www.jstor.org/stable/24718882. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
Park, Steven. “On the Burning of His Majesty’s Schooner Gaspee in 1772.” Providence College, 23 Jan. 2021, library.providence.edu/encompass/on-the-burning-of-his-majestys-schooner-gaspee-in-1772/on-the-burning-of-his-majestys-schooner-gaspee-in-1772/. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier. “Political Mobs and the American Revolution, 1765–1776.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 30 Aug. 1955, www.jstor.org/stable/3143703. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
“The 1772 Gaspee Affair, Rhode Island’s Own Tea Party (But the Ship Burned) Part 1.” The New England Historical Society, newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-1772-gaspee-affair-rhode-islands-tea-party-ship-burned/. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
“The 1772 Gaspee Affair, Rhode Island’s Own Tea Party (But the Ship Burned) Part 2.” The New England Historical Society, newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/1772-gaspee-affair-rhode-islands-tea-party-ship-burned-2/. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.
“Whitehouse Commemorates 250th Anniversary of the Burning of the Gaspee.” Sheldon Whitehouse: United States Senator for Rhode Island, 6 July 2022, www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-commemorates-250th-anniversary-of-the-burning-of-the-gaspee. Accessed 12 Apr. 2023.