Gaspee

Gaspee was a British revenue schooner deployed to enforce colonial trade duties along the coast of North America, particularly in Narragansett Bay near Providence, Rhode Island. Operated under the authority of the Royal Navy and commanded by Lieutenant William Dudingston, the vessel patrolled the area to curb smuggling and collect customs duties.

On June 9, 1772, while pursuing suspected smugglers in Narragansett Bay, the Gaspee ran aground off Gaspee Point near Providence. A large group of colonial residents from Providence and nearby towns attacked the ship during the night, injuring or detaining crew members and setting the vessel on fire. Captain Dudingston and several officers were taken ashore; the burning schooner was ultimately destroyed. The incident provoked immediate tensions between colonial residents and British authorities and prompted investigations by both colonial authorities and the British government.

In the aftermath, the British Crown launched inquiries, and Rhode Island authorities conducted trials that were largely inconclusive, with few if any convictions. The affair contributed to a growing climate of resistance to imperial enforcement in the colonies and helped spur the development of committees of correspondence that coordinated colonial opposition. Historians regard the Gaspee affair as a notable precursor to the American Revolution, illustrating evolving colonial attitudes toward British authority and enforcement of trade laws.

The site of the burning is commemorated as Gaspee Point in Rhode Island and is associated with the Gaspee National Historic Site, administered by the National Park Service, which preserves the memory of the event and its role in the broader trajectory of American colonial resistance.