unt of Gaspee continues this summer H

By Dr. KARTHY ABBASS Director of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project

The Gaspee was not a huge rated Royal Navy fighting vessel, but because she served for the King, the 1772 Patriot attack was a catalyst for growing friction that led to the Revolution.

The Gaspee was one of the more than 220+ vessels known to have been lost in Rhode Island waters during that war. RIMAP has found 3 of the 4 Royal Navy frigates along the west coast of Aquidneck Island, 10 of the 13 British transports scuttled in Newport Harbor, and last year Rhode Island Marine Archeology Project began the search for the Gaspee with divers groundtruthing remote sensing targets to the south of the spit. This summer RIMAP will continue the search to the north, and the public will again be invited to observe from the shore.

This search is difficult because the Gaspee was small. She was built in Marblehead and bought in 1764 as a tender to larger Royal Navy vessels serving in North America.

In Rhode Island she interrupted illegal trade, generating the local outrage that led to the Patriot attack. Admiralty documents describe the ship as only about 50' long, with a crew of 30, and probably armed with only 1/2 pounder swivel guns. Her small size, plus historical details of salvage following her loss, and the physical conditions at Gaspee Point suggest there might not be much left of the ship, but RIMAP's search for the Gaspee continues. Please join us!