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This site is one of the
educational sites of the Joseph Bucklin Society.
The Joseph Bucklin Society
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Researching American History 1600-1799. A National Center for History of the
Gaspee Affair of 1772.
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"Longboats" meant the largest of several boats
available on a ship in Colonial Pre-Revolutionary War Rhode Island.
William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine (London 1789)
defines types of boats as the terms were used in the 18th Century, and defines a
"longboat" as: the largest boat that usually accompanies a ship, and
is generally
 furnished with
a mast and sails, and further describes the longboat as what is common to a
merchant-ship.
See the accompanying diagram of a "6 Pair" of oars longboat
of the 18th Century. (Click to enlarge the thumbnail.) note it is 22 feet
long and over 7 feet wide.
Likewise, the U.S. Tables of Allowances for the outfitting of our Naval ships
at the beginning of the 19th Century, providing for various boats for the ships,
are instructive. The sloops and brigantines
normally had accompanying boats of from 21 to 30 feet in length. See Vol.
31, Nautical Research Journal, p 47 et seq. (Nautical Research Guild,
Bethesda, MD 1985). There were plenty of sloops and a number of the
larger brigantines in the Providence fleet. Again , this suggests that Bowen's
"largest long-boats" were easily in excess of 20 feet long.
A wide boat means a long boat. Bowen's account suggests that the his
seat was wide enough for another person to be in the middle (not rowing).
"I took my seat on the main thwart, near the larboard [left hand side if
facing forward in a boat] row-lock, with my gun by my right side, facing
forwards. As soon as Dudingston began to hail, Joseph Bucklin, who was standing
on the main thwart by my right side,...."
The persons rowing necessarily cannot be tight against the outside of the
boat if there is to be any effective rowing. A rower needs a two to three
foot width of room to row. Two rowers with enough room for a third man to stand
on the rowing thwart yields a width of 7 feet or so.
The existing drawings of longboats of the era indicate a rather uniform
ratio of length, breath, and depth. This is not surprising, since the
colony's and the English shipbuilders knew enough to build on experience and had
a body of experience on which to build. Assuming even a 7 foot width, from
Bowen's description of where Joseph Bucklin was standing, and assuming 18th
Century standard length to breath dimensions, would yield a longboat length in
excess of 18 feet. Again , this suggests that Bowen's "largest
long-boats" were easily in excess of 20 feet long
Large boats were available. What was the group of ships from which
Brown could requisition eight longboats? By 1772, the Browns of
Providence were engaged in slave trading in Africa and whale hunting in the
Atlantic Ocean. Ships used in both of these enterprises needed more than a
small row boat. For the trading, it was common to anchor relatively far
off a shallow shore without a harbor and send the boats back and forth to
transport the goods. For whale hunting, a substantial boat was needed to
quickly reach and harpoon and tow the whales. If John Brown really asked for the
largest longboats available to him in the harbor, one would not expect a
15 foot rowboat with only 5 single oars to be furnished to him.
By 1750 shipbuilding in Rhode Island had reached the levels of sophistication
of England. There were common formulas used to determine various aspects
of the ship once the length of the ship was agreed upon between purchaser and
builder. Among other common formulas of the day, the "longboat"
(largest boat carried on the ship) as figured by taking the square root of the
length of the ship and multiplying that square root number by 2.6.
This was found to give a boat capable of being used as a lifeboat in times of
disaster far from land, while still being able to be carried on the deck and
used without undue difficulty for the many tasks needed by a ship on a long
merchant voyage. If, for example, John Brown's sloop Katy (built 1768) and
110 feet long was equipped in such a way, the "longboat" of the Katy
would have been 27 feet long. Thus, Bowen's description of
"largest long-boats" would have meant, to the persons he was
addressing, boats of more than 25 feet long.
Big boats were needed. Also, consider the purpose of the requisition
of the boats. Brown knew that the attacking force would have to row
at least 6 miles, against the tide, and that the final approach might need
speed. For or five men rowing an overloaded boat would not be what a sailor (and
these men were sailors) would use for such an expedition. Desirable
boats for the expedition would be capable of using a minimum of 8 or 10 men
rowing. In short, the longboats used in the Gaspee attack were the largest
boats carried on Brown's merchant ships The boats both available and desirable to Brown would have been capable
of large carrying capacity and would have been able to use at least 10 men rowing and 1
man steering without difficulty. This suggests that Bowen's "largest
long-boats" were easily in excess of 25 feet long
Descriptions of the boats other than Bowen's description . What were
the descriptions of the boats from others than Bowen? The attacking force
clearly impressed the Gaspee officers and men as being overwhelming is
size. Their estimates were well over a 100 attackers. (E.g., Dickinson
said that in the three boats that initially boarded there were 30 or 40 men, and
there were a total of 150 that eventually boarded. (The Gaspee's sentinel,
Bartholomew Cheever, estimated "about 200.") Granted that the
testimony at the court martial would have emphasized the need to surrender to a
superior force. But the fact is that on the night in question, the English
felt overwhelmed, and these are the only estimates of the size of the attacking
force. For such a large force, large long-boats were needed. Again , this
suggests that Bowen's "largest long-boats" were easily in excess of 20
feet long, probably closer to 30 feet long. | "I was then sitting with Capt. Tillinghast in the
stern of the barge." |
John Mawney referred to the long-boat on which he rode as a
"barge". "Barge" was used for two types of boats
associated with larger ocean going ships. An admiral or other high ranking
naval officer has on his flagship a "barge". The barge was a
large and imposing boat, and was used to carry the ranking officer to/from his
command ship. An admiral's barge, on a first rate ship of the line (100
guns and multiple decks) would have been 40 or so feet long. It is not the
flat bottomed scow that we think of in the 21st Century. The other 18th
Century meaning of "barge" was for the large type of long-boat used to
carry goods to and from a ship at anchor and the shore. Both meanings of
the "barge" term used by Mawney indicate a large vessel.
A large vessel is consistent with his story of first sitting in the stern
with the boat captain and then still being able to "spring forward"
the length
of the boat to be the first in his boat to grab a rope and get aboard the
Gaspee. Obviously, Mawney had room to move between rowers to get forward,
so this was not a small boat. that Dickinson said they needed only two boats to take the 19 English sailors
and three officers of the Gaspee, as bound captives, and row them ashore. "We
were then sent ashore, in two different boats, the Lieutenant and part of the
men in one boat, and myself with the rest of the people in the other boat".
[Deposition testimony of Dickinson.] Whether they sat or laid, 22 men bound, in
addition to the rowers and others need to maintain the capture of the English
sailors, needed a lot of space.
| "I had an
opportunity of observing the boat, which appeared to me to be a very large
long-boat." |
Dudingston described one of the attacker's boats thus:
"During the time they were rowing me on shore, I had an opportunity of
observing the boat, which appeared to me to be a very large long-boat. I saw by
the man who steered her a cutlass lying by him . . . .One man, who had a little
more humanity than any of the rest, said they had better land me at the Point of
Pawtuxet. As I was unable to stand, they unbound five of the men and gave them a
blanket to carry me up.."
This description was an attempt by Dudingston to help the investigator
discover the attackers' identity, and he was apparently trying to be
accurate. Dudingston was experienced in the English navy, which regularly
had longboats in excess of 25 feet long on even their smaller ships.
Dudingston did not describe the boat as a pinnacle, a yawl, or any other kind of
smaller rowed boat which were 15 or less feet in length.. He called it a
"long-boat," and did not rest on calling it a long-boat or a large
long-boat. His description of "a very large long-boat" suggests that
Bowen's "largest long-boats" were easily in excess of 25 feet
long.
Likewise, note that there were more than six English men (inferred from
Dudingston saying "they unbound five of the men" ) laying bound
and being rowed by the attackers, and (Briggs description) Dudingston laying in
the boat behind the space for all the rowers. So for such a cargo of bound or
injured men, this boat must have been substantial in size. In short,
Dudingston's description indicates a boat much longer than 20 feet and
more than 4 single oars rowing.
Dickinson testified that he counted seven "launches and merchants ships
boats" with "about one hundred and fifty" men. (Note,
Dickinson uses "launch". A "launch" was a sloop- rigged
large boat , used by English warships in landing marines for amphibious warfare,
a tactic King George favored. The "launch" and the "barge"
were the biggest of the ship's boats carried by English warships.) Dickinson
clearly wanted to tell the investigators that these 7 boats, with 150 men in
them, were large long-boats, easily able to handle 20 plus men in each
boat.
Dudingston and Dickinson were taken ashore in different boats. Dudingston
described the boat in such a manner that we can assume it easily accommodate 20
men. Dudingston was probably in Potter's boat, because the description of
English sailor Patrick Earle and of Briggs agree regarding the transport
of the captain Dudingston, and because Briggs reported using his small rowboat
immediately after the captain was landed. (Brigg's rowboat had been attached to,
and towed by, Potter's boat after Briggs was impressed onto Potter's
boat.)
Potter's boat was described by Briggs as: "....he was in a boat which
was rowing with eight oars; that the time he met the said Potter was about half
an hour after he, this deponent, left the island, and he, said Potter, was about
five miles from Bristol; that there were eleven men in said boat."
Briggs was impressed by the Potter group to row. Whether Briggs was to use
an additional available oar or was to give relief to the rowers, the fact
is that Potter's boat had at least four sets of oars, maybe more, was probably
in excess of 28 feet, and was fully able to hold 20 men.
If Potter had a 28 foot long-boat, did Brown? Brown had a sizeable
fleet of merchant ships engaged in the slave and sugar trades, and Providence
was a town with a number of ships available in the harbor. Fifty whaling
ships made Rhode Island their home base, bringing back spermaceti, the raw
materials for Brown's candle making factory. It is doubtful that Brown in
Providence had only smaller long-boats than available to Potter in
Bristol. (E.g., see earlier note on this page about the Katy and the
probable size of its longboat.)
Whaling was a New England industry, and, as noted above, the Browns had
whaling ships available. The whaleboat that was launched from the whaling
ship was a rather standard boat. The standard whaleboat was about 28 feet
long and six feet wide. Whillits D. Ansel, The Whaleboat (Mystic Seaport
Museum, 1978).
So, our conclusion, from several independent points, is that Bowen's
description of "largest long-boats in the harbor" tells us of
boats in excess of 25 feet in length, and most probably with 10 men rowing them
(five pairs of oars).
Consider how many men were involved in
the attack on the Gaspee. |
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