The above image is courtesy of the Naval War College Museum, Naval War College, 686 Cushing Road, Newport, RI  The Museum has a  photo of a good picture of the burning of the Gaspee.   The staff now only can say: "The image came from a 35 mm slide I found in the archives of the Naval War College, which according to the staff at the time was taken from a painting in their collection. This was many years ago - no attribution was available save for the fact that it was from the archives of the War College."

The Naval War College Museum, of course, is the place to find much of interest regarding the naval history of Rhode Island.

The reason we say that it is a "good picture" is that is gives a correct feeling of the history involved. The artist has the correct size and rigging for the Gaspee and a correct size (big enough for five pairs of oars) and shape for the longboats.  Many of the pictures that have been drawn to portray the event have the longboats too small and the Gaspee too big. 

Our only complaint on historical accuracy is that when the ship was fired by the departing raiders, only one longboat was in the immediate area of the Gaspee.  The others had departed with the captured crew of the Gaspee and otherwise had already generally left the scene.  At the time the flames would have reached the scope shown in the picture, all the longboats would be out of the area.  The raiders watched the burning of the ship from afar.

Go to a narrative of the capture and burning of the Gaspee.