NEWS

Hunt for Gaspee comes up empty handed, but leader not discouraged

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 8/2/22

By JOHN HOWELL

After more than two weeks of what is surely the most comprehensive search for remains of the HMS Gaspee that was burned by colonists 250 years ago, the marine archeologist who led …

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NEWS

Hunt for Gaspee comes up empty handed, but leader not discouraged

Posted

After more than two weeks of what is surely the most comprehensive search for remains of the HMS Gaspee that was burned by colonists 250 years ago, the marine archeologist who led the hunt says she is “disappointed but not discouraged” to have not found remnants of the vessel.

D.K. Abbass, Principal Investigator of the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP), said Monday the team made up largely of more than 20 volunteers, broke down the Gaspee Point research station earlier in the day. Divers systematically probing the offshore shoal focusing on targets identified by side and subsurface sonar scans from an anchored vessel, Abbass said, narrowed their search to a single target in the past several days even using ten-foot probes to get below the sandy bottom.

“We chose one target as the Study Area for an intense Phase I Non-Disturbance Survey, and we have found nothing to indicate that a major portion of the remains of that storied vessel may still exist at Gaspee Point,” Abbass said in a release issued Monday.

Abbass said RIMAP would submit its report of the search including sonar readings to the state Historical Preservation Commission where they would become available to any future endeavor to locate the ship that was a scourge to colonial maritime commerce at the time. Raiders rowed out to the HMS Gaspee the night of June 9, 1772, after she ran aground on an ebbing tide off Namquid Point (now Gaspee Point) chasing the shallower draft Hannah. After shooting Lt. William Dudingston, the captain, the raiders boarded the ship without resistance. Dudingston was taken ashore as was the crew. Dudingston was treated for his wound and later went on to be promoted to the rank of captain. The raiders numbering an estimated 60 went unidentified although King George offered a handsome reward. 

The affair, termed the “first blow of freedom” is viewed locally as the first shot leading to the American Revolution. This year being the 250th anniversary of the burning, and RIMAP having identified two targets in scans conducted last year, a group of individuals, corporations and foundations raised more than $50,000 to mount the search.

If anything is to be found in the defined area of the search, Abbass concludes it would only be “bits and pieces” of the Gaspee. They did come away with two artifacts recovered by divers, a piece of wood no longer than four inches long with a square hole. The apparent age of the wood and the hole was of interest to Abbass. The square hole, she said is indicative of holes used during the 1700s for vessel fittings. The other artifact is fish shaped and not much longer. It was encrusted with barnacles and turned out to be a rubber toy shark, Abbass disclosed with a laugh.

Abbass described the overall search as a “citizen science” effort.

“We did as thorough a job as possible with the time and funding available. We looked at a lot of potential targets with CR Environmental and SyQwest, the engineering companies who did the remote sensing surveys, and RIMAP volunteers investigated three of those targets as well as part of the beach and near-shore at Gaspee Point,” she said. 

In a release she said, funds donated supported the vessel charters, and side-scan sonar, magnetometer, and sub-bottom surveys, with enough left over to create an educational program about the history of HMS Gaspee and the archaeological efforts to find her. All the fieldwork work was done by RIMAP volunteers, including 9 members of the research vessel team, 19 members of the land archaeology team, and many other RIMAP members who provided extra help. 

“Although we are disappointed that RIMAP has not found the Gaspee, we are grateful to our donors and volunteers who made this project possible. However, we are not discouraged because we now know a great deal more about the physical and cultural environment around Gaspee Point that could lead to an understanding of the area, and the post-fieldwork data analysis will report any further findings in due course. Of equal importance is the exciting way that RIMAP engaged the public in this archaeological investigation, and such inclusion of local citizens in the study of their own history is certainly a measure of RIMAP’s success,” Abbas said in a statement.

Gaspee, search for the Gaspee

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