The Last Cruise of the Gaspee
1772.
One windy day in March,1
Ghost-white against the gray,
A cruiser fleet, through snow and sleet,
Made Narraganset Bay.
There were smugglers in the bay,
And smugglers on the shore;
But loyal still to the royal will
Ten times as many more,—
Ten times as many more,
Though every smuggler there
But thrived because of England’s laws2
And taxes none could bear.
Yet the cruiser’s captain drawl’d,
The while he quaft his ale,
“These islands low are full you know,
Of fellows fled from jail,
“Of Puritans fled from law
And kings they curse and fear.
Aha!” he laugh’d, “our loyal craft
Has brought the Cavalier!
“Our guns will speak in tones
To make the whole bay ring;
And teach to each within their reach
The reverence due the king.
“Their ships upon the bay
Shall heed our cannon’s call,
And dip their flags,3 or sail in rags,
And yield us bounties all.4
“Their sheep upon the shore,
A royal tax will be.4
No lack of food or kindling wood
Is here,” quoth he, “for me!”
There were smugglers in the bay,
And smugglers on the shore;
This craft, I ken, a band of men
Ten times as lawless bore.
Our sheriff5 went and warn’d
Their captain, o’er and o’er,
To keep in sight the bounds of right,
And not to plunder more.
The captain waved his hand,
Said he: “The fleet has made
A vow devout to carry out
The English ‘Acts of Trade.’”6
Judge Hopkins7 wrote him then:
“Our men demand their due.”
“I write because you break our laws,”
Wrote Governor Wanton7 too.
The captain bade them go
To Boston with their plea;
“Not his affair; the admiral7 there
Had sent the ship to sea.”
And then he turn’d away.
One heard him mutter near:
“I think I see the one they fee8
Ship back his bounties here.”
The judge and governor wrote
The admiral, who but swore
His fleet would hang9 the island gang,
If they should vex him more.
“The navy10 know their trade,”
His clerk to Wanton wrote;
“In mere pretence and insolence11
You board the sovereign’s12 boat.”
Wrote Wanton: “We shall ask
The throne13 to judge your note;
And every time you hint of crime,13
Shall board the sovereign’s boat.
“The English crown should serve
The English people’s cause,
And honor those, nor make them foes,
Who stand by English laws.”
But months and months went on.
The cruiser fired away.
None plied an oar, lived near the shore,
But feared to be her prey.4
Cried Captain Lindsey14 then:
“This outrage none should bide!
Rhode Island grit must yet outwit,
And trip the scoundrel’s pride.
“He knows my packet here,
And where I sail, and why;
And if he will may sink me, still
His guns will I defy.
“If down we go, the law,
Will float to stand upon;
If that go too, this case is through;
But, Britain, more anon!”
So high his flag15 he flew;
And wide his jib he spread.
The cruiser fired; her crew grew tired,
Her captain wroth and red.
“All hands aloft!” he cried;
“All sail!” and at the words,
The masts were fill’d with sailors drill’d
To climb and cling like birds.
Wide flew each flapping sheet,
And sagg’d and bagg’d the gale,
And cloud-like lash’d the waves that dash’d
As if they felt a flail.
When off of Nauquit16 Point,
Shrewd Lindsey knew his ground;
He steer’d afar, and clear’d the bar;
And then the ship swung round.16
Up toss’d her canvas high;
And dipp’d, as round she ran,
The saucy way that seems to say
Now catch me if you can.
The cruiser’s captain look’d,
And mouth’d an awful oath:
“Now catch I not, let fire and shot
Or bottom catch us both.
“Mind not the bar,” he cried,
“Straight on! With depth to spare,15
The tide is high, and, sailing by,
We head them off up there.”
Deep plow’d the cruiser’s prow
The broken waves below,
So bows a bull whose pride is full
To toss a stubborn foe.
She plung’d and reel’d and roll’d.
Ah, better had she tack’d!
The water flew the bulwark through.
The mainmast bent and crack’d.
The wind, it whistled there;
The boatswain whistled here.
The captain swore; the mainsail tore;
The jib had ript its gear.
A flood was on the deck.
The crew were floundering round.
Then, clean and chill, and safe and still,
The cruiser lay aground.15
When Lindsey saw her fate,
So loudly cheer’d his men,
The hostile crew, that heard them, flew
To man their guns again.
But Lindsey kept his course—
He now could do no more—
And told ere night the cruiser’s plight
To those he met on shore.17
“There stays the ship,” said he,
“Till lifted by the tide.”
“Till Providence shall lift her thence,”
John Brown,17 his friend, replied.
And Providence, at dusk,
Was routed out to greet
The drumming fierce of Daniel Pierce18
Who cried in every street:
“The cruiser lies aground!
High tide at three18 o’clock!
Who care to go and meet her so,
Come all to Fenner’s19 dock!”
They came to Fenner’s dock;
And found, awaiting there,
Eight19 yawls, that Brown19 had lent the town,
In Captain Whipple’s19 care.
The crews that mann’d the yawls
Had muffled19 every oar;
And they, and men who join’d them then,20
All told, were sixty-four.21
Their arms were pick’d with care
From all their friends could loan;
And all the yawls, for cannon balls,
Were stock’d with paving-stone.22
They battled wind and tide,
Three hours23 amid the gloom.
The midnight pass’d.23 They saw, at last,
The cruiser’s bulwarks loom.
“Who comes?” her watch call’d out.
“Who comes!” her captain cried.
Then swift alarm’d, in tones that arm’d,
Her crew that toward him hied.
“Move off!” her captain roar’d,
His pistol aiming well;
Then fired23—alack! fire answer’d back;
He started, stagger’d, fell.
And then, as dark and fierce
As tidal waves, where fleets
Are whelm’d and whirl’d and downward hurl’d
Till death their deed completes,
Our men, at Whipple’s19 cry,
“Up, up!” clear’d every check;
And dash’d and leapt and slash’d and swept
Across the cruiser’s deck.
But hold!—her men were gone.
Ours held the deck alone;
Their work had done, nor fired a gun;
The cruiser’s crew had flown.24
“Surrender here!” rang out;
And out the cabin glanced
At first a few, then all the crew;
Then one and all advanced.
“First know,” said Whipple then,
“That here you sail no more;
And next prepare your yawls to bear
Yourselves and yours ashore.”25
The sailors went and came,
They came with bags and coats.
They call’d their roll, and said the whole
They own’d was in their boats.
Meantime our men themselves26
The captain’s wound had dress’d;
And row’d him, sore but safe, ashore
With all that he possess’d.27
“All hands embark!” rang out;
And all the yawls were full;
Save one whose crew had more to do
While off the rest should pull.
This crew the cruiser fired,28
Till smoke, well under way,
Flew up the mast as white and fast
As e’er, of old, the spray.
Then swiftly they embark’d,
And swiftly they withdrew;
As flash’d the fire, and, streaming higher,
The red flag redder flew.
The cruiser burn’d in state,
Until she burst at last28
With every ball she bore and all
Her powder in the blast.
It fill’d the heaven above,
But not to heaven was given:
A wounded cloud roar’d long and loud;
Then back the whole was driven.
When all was o’er, there seem’d
Faint sparks to fill the place—
“There comes,” said one, “the morning sun;
A new day dawns apace!”
It dawn’d for these, at least;
When soon they hove in sight
Of pier on pier pack’d full to cheer
Those heroes of the night.
But hist! the cheers were check’d.
“Keep mum!” the murmur spread;
The crown, to get these men, had set
A price on every head.
“Five hundred dollars down,29
For him who tells of one,”
Was first proclaim’d: but no one named
A man who aught had done.
“Five thousand,”30 then were pledged,
“To know who took the lead;
And half as much to know of such
As join’d him in the deed.”
The King’s commission,31 last,
Sat half a year or more;
But not a word it ever heard
About the sixty-four.
Forgotten were they then?
They might have pass’d by day,
Without a wink to make you think,
Or hint that it was they.
But, when the night had come;
And door and blind were lock’d,
And window fast, and blew the blast
Till all the chimney rock’d;
When, safe from eyes and ears,
In homes where all were true,
The way those men were feasted then
A king, full well, might rue.
And when the board was bare;
And round the roaring fire,
The nuts were crack’d and cider smack’d
Till tooth and tongue would tire;
When each his tale would tell
About that ship and night,
And still the way he dodg’d, each day,
The British spy and spite;
The boys who husk’d the corn
Would forward bend, and spring,
And draw the ears, like swords, with cheers,
To make the rafters ring!
The host who stirr’d the fire
Would stab it through and through:
You might have thought the flames he brought
Had burn’d a cruiser too.
The girls would fancy then
It was the cruiser flared;
And round the walls would aim like balls
The apples red they pared.
“To arms!” would cry the men;
And each a maid purloin;
While mother’s yarn would snap, and darn
The dance that all would join.
Ah, so we hush’d the tale!
Yet spies that nigh would roam
Could not decoy the smallest boy
To tell what pass’d at home.
We hush’d it, till the hush
Became our countersign
To save from those we knew were foes,
And make our men combine.
We hush’d it, till we learn’d
That thousands would be free,
And long’d to know which way to go
And when the call would be.
We hush’d it, till we heard
What Concord had to bear;
Then shouted loud, a mighty crowd,
“Our heroes lead us there!”
Footnotes
1 She first appeared in... Narraganset Bay in March, 1772,... to prevent infraction of the revenue laws, and to put a stop to... illicit trade.—Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev., vol. ii., ch. 3, p. 60.
2 See “Our First Break with the British,” notes 5, 19, 20, 24.
3 “Often fired... to compel their masters to take down their colors in its presence—a haughty marine Gesler.”—Idem., p. 61.
4 “Plundered the islands of sheep and hogs, cut down trees, fired at market boats, detained vessels without any colorable pretext, and made illegal seizures of goods of which the recovery cost more than they were worth.”—Bancroft’s Hist. U. S., vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 417.
5 “The Governor,... sent a sheriff on board the Gaspee.”—Idem.
6 See Idem., vol. iv., ch. 8. Also “Our First Break with the British,” Note 19.
7 “Hopkins, the Chief Justice,... gave the opinion that any person who should... exercise any authority by force of arms without showing his commission to the governor... guilty of a trespass if not piracy.”—Idem., vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 416. “The governor, therefore, sent... to ascertain by what orders the lieutenant acted; and Duddington referred the subject to the admiral.”—Idem.
8 See “Our First Break with the British,” Note 20.
9 “As sure as the people of Newport attempt to rescue any vessel,... I will hang them as pirates.”—Idem., p. 417.
10 “The Admiral answered from Boston: ‘The lieutenant, sir, has done his duty.’”—Idem., p. 416.
11 “Your two insolent letters.”—Lossing’s Pic. Field Book, vol. ii., ch. 3.
12 “I would advise you not to send your sheriff on board the king’s ship again on such ridiculous errands.”—Idem.
13 “I shall transmit your letter to the Secretary of State.... I will send the sheriff of this colony at any time, and to any place within the body of it, as I shall think fit.”—Idem.
14 “On the 9th of June, 1772, Captain Lindsey left Newport for Providence in his packet.”—Idem. “Called the Hannah and sailed between New York and Providence.”—Idem., note.
15 “As Captain Lindsey, on this occasion, kept his colors flying, the Gaspee gave chase, and continued it as far as Namquit (now Gaspee) Point. The tide was ebbing, but the bar was covered. As soon as Lindsey doubled the Point, he stood to the westward. Duddington, commander of the Gaspee, eager to overtake the pursued, and ignorant of the extent of the submerged point from the shore, kept on a straight course, and in a few minutes struck the sand. The fast-ebbing tide soon left his vessel hopelessly grounded.”—Idem.
16 Namquit, according to Lossing; Nauquit, according to Bancroft.
17 “Lindsey arrived at Providence at sunset, and... communicated the fact to Mr. John Brown, one of the leading merchants of that city.”—Lossing’s Pic. Field Book, v. ii., ch. 3.
18 “At dusk... Daniel Pearce passed along the Main Street beating a drum, and informing the inhabitants that the Gaspee lay aground,... that she could not get off until three o’clock, and inviting,” etc.—Idem.
19 Brown “ordered the preparation of eight of the largest long-boats in the harbor, to be placed under the general command of Captain Whipple, one of his most trusty ship-masters,”... “the row-locks to be muffled, and the whole put in readiness at half-past eight at Fenner’s wharf.”—Idem.
20 “The principal actors in this affair were John Brown, Capt. Abraham Whipple, John B. Hopkins, Benjamin Dunn, Dr. John Mawney, Benjamin Page, Joseph Bucklin, Turpin Smith, Ephraim Bowen, and Capt. Joseph Tillinghast.”—Idem. “Led by John Brown and Joseph Brown of Providence, and Simeon Potter of Bristol.”—Bancroft’s U. S., vol. vi., ch. 47.
21 “Filled with sixty-four well-armed men, a sea-captain in each boat acting as a steersman.”—Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev., vol. ii., ch. 3.
22 “They took with them a quantity of wood paving-stone.”—Idem.
23 “The boats left Providence between ten and eleven.... Between one and two... they reached the Gaspee, when a sentinel hailed them.... Duddington appeared,... and waving the boats off fired a pistol at them. This... we returned.... Duddington was wounded.”—Idem.
24 “The crew retreating below.”—Idem.
25 “The schooner’s company were ordered to collect their clothing and leave the vessel.”—Idem.
26 “Thomas Bucklin... fired the musket.”... He afterwards assisted in dressing the wound, supervised by Dr. John Mawney, an American.—Idem., note.
27 “All the effects of... Duddington being carefully placed in one of the American boats.”—Idem.
28 “The Gaspee was set on fire, and at dawn blew up.”—Idem.
29 “A reward of five hundred dollars for the discovery of the perpetrator of said villainy.”—Idem.
30 “Afterwards,... a reward of five thousand dollars for the leader and two thousand five hundred... the other parties.”—Idem.
31 “A commission of inquiry under the great seal of England... sat from the 4th until the 22d of January... adjourned until... May... and sat until the 23d of June. But not a solitary clue to the identity of the perpetrators could be obtained.”—Idem.