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Francis Rotch's Account of The Boston Tea Party That two of the three ships which participated in the famous Boston Tea Party—the Beaver and the Dartmouth—hud taken cargoes of whale oil to London preliminary to being chartered by the British India Company to carry the tea to Boston, is generally well known. However, the activities of Francis Rotch, agent and part owner of the Dartmouth, have been nearly lost, and the monograph titled "The Forgotten Man of The Boston Tea Party" has helped to bring this phase of the historical event to light. As a sequel to this study, it will be of interest to read the testimony which Francis Rotch gave to the Lords of the Privy Council in London on February 19, 1774. Preserved in the collection of documents at the Public Record Office in London, the official testimony was copied by a Nantucket historian in 1973—just 199 years after it was recorded—and reads as follows: "The Information of Francis Rotch, Merchant, lately arrived from Boston, taken before Lords of the Privy Council, 19th of February, 1774; Rotch being of the people called Quakers, affirmeth and saith: "That he is part owner of the ship Dartmouth, Captain Hall; that he was at Boston in North America, when the said ship arrived there on 28th of November last. That upon her arrival Mr. Mollineaux, Captain Bradford and another Person, whose name he does not recollect, and who stated themselves to be deputed for that purpose by certain persons, calling themselves a Committee of Correspondence, came to him and desired he would not enter his ship 'till the Tuesday following, namely, the 30th. "That on the 29th a meeting of the Body of the People was held at which he was present. That the object of that Meeting was to concert measures to prevent the landing of the Teas from London. That Jonathan Williams was Moderator at that Meeting, acted as Clerk, and that several of the Selectmen of the Town of Boston, (he believed all of them) were present. "That he has a general recollection of all that passed at that Meeting, and a printed Paper containing an Account of the Resolution and Proceedings of the said Meeting, transmitted to the Earl of Dartmouth by Governor Hutchinson, having been put into his hands, and he having perused the same, he stated that the said Paper contained an exact Account of what passed, as well on the 29th of November as on the succeeding day, when he was also present. "That the principal persons who were most active in the Business of those Meetings were Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. John Hancock, Dr. Young, Mr. Mollineaux and Dr. Warren. That Mr. Jonathan Williams was Moderator at the said Meeting, and that he well remembered that most of the Questions proposed in the said Meeting, as stated in the Paper above mentioned, were put by him the said Williams.
