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On this day in the year 1772, the HMS Gaspee, a British schooner which had been chasing another vessel while enforcing a highly unpopular policy of trade regulations concerning Britain and its colonies, ran aground in shallow water near Warwick, Rhode Island. Outraged citizens, already furious at the crown for the aggressive acts by the British military against colonial ships and towns, attacked and boarded the Gaspee before she could escape and then looted and torched it.  The incident quickly became known as The Gaspee Affair.Here is a brief description of the incident courtesy of WIKEPEDIA: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)In early 1772, Lieutenant William Dudingston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dudingston) sailed HMS Gaspée into Rhode Island?s Narragansett Bay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narragansett_Bay) to aid in the enforcement of customs collection and inspection of cargo. Rhode Island had a reputation for smuggling and trading with the enemy during wartime. Dudingston and his officers quickly antagonized powerful merchant interests in the small colony. On June 9 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_9), when the Gaspée lay hard aground, a band of Providence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence,_Rhode_Island) members of the Sons of Liberty (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Liberty) rowed out to confront the officers and crew before the rising tide allowed the ship to free herself.At the break of dawn June 10 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_10), the ship was boarded. The crew put up a feeble resistance and Lieutenant Dudingston was shot and wounded, and the vessel burned to the waterline. The man who fired was Joseph Bucklin.JOSEPH BUCKLIN, was well known in Providence and kept a prominent restaurant, or place of resort, in South Main Street, where gentlemen resorted for their suppers.. Here, too, they assembled, to discuss politics, and where, possibly, the expedition which destroyed the Gaspee, was discussed, as well as at Mr. Sabin's house, which was near it.HERE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspée_Affair) View the full article
