The Gaspee Days celebrations in Pawtuxet Village culminated with this afternoon's ceremonial burning of the H.M.S. Gaspee. The celebrations commemorate an act that turned out to be the first planned act of rebellion in the American Revolution.
On June 9, 1772, Captain Benjamin Lindsay was sailing the packet sloop Hannah through Narragansett Bay when he was intercepted by the revenue schooner H.M.S. Gaspee, captained by Lt. William Duddington. Lindsay led the Gaspee on a merry game of cat and mouse through the narrow inlets off the coast of present day Warwick. Taking advantage of an outgoing tide, Lindsay carved a narrow turn through shallow waters. Unfamiliar with the depth of the water off Namquid Point - now Gaspee Point - Duddington attempted to follow. The Gaspee sat lower in the water than the Hannah, however, and the schooner was grounded on the submerged sandbar with the tide receding. Lindsay sailed on to Providence and notified John Brown, owner of the Hannah, of the Gaspee's plight. Soon, a Town Crier beating a drum walked the streets of Providence, and declaring that all persons that wished to deal with this "troublesome vessel" should meet that evening at Sabin Tavern which stood at the corner of present day South Main Street and Planet Street.
That evening, 55 colonists boarded 8 longboats and rowed from Fenner's Wharf in Providence to Namquid Point in Pawtuxet Village. Words were exchanged between a sentry on the Gaspee and the colonists. Only one shot is known to have been fired - a shot that wounded Lt. Duddington. The colonists boarded the Gaspee and the crew quickly surrendered without a fight. Duddington was taken for medical attention and would survive to later become an Admiral in His Majesty's Navy. The crew was released either in Newport or Pawtuxet Village. (Testimony on the matter is unclear.) The Gaspee, however, was stripped of all armaments and then burned to the water line. Governor Wanton, who was later removed from office for being a Loyalist, offered a 100 pound-sterling reward for the arrest and conviction of anyone associated with the Gaspee incident. King George III would add another 50 pounds-sterling to the reward. Despite the extremely large reward (in colonial times) for information, not a single colonist came forward and no participant was either tried or convicted.
Post processing of all three images started with a brilliant warm filter in Topaz Adjust. I then adjusted adaptive exposure and contrast. The mosaic was constructed manually in PSE.
