27 June 2020

Excellent.

An excellent book ...


Throughout the colonies, resolutions were passed that no East India Company tea would be allowed to land, and in Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston, agents for the East India Company were forced to resign their commissions.  In New York, "a vast number of the inhabitants, including lawyers, merchants, land owners, masters of ships, and mechanics" together with the "Sons of Liberty of New York" undertook watches to prevent any tea from landing in the colony.

On December 25, the British ship Polly, bearing nearly seven hundred chests of tea in its hold, attempted to travel up the Delaware River to Philadelphia.  The Polly was stopped by a blocke of small boats at Chester, and Samuel Ayres, the captain of the ship, was handed a message: "What think you Captain, of a Halter around your Neck -- ten gallons of liquid Tar decanted on your pate -- with the feathers of a dozen wild Geese laid over that to enliven your appearance?  Only think seriously of this -- and fly to the Place from Whence you came."

By the next tide Captain Ayres was back on board and the Polly was turned round, ready to return to England.

Nina Sankovitch, from American Rebels: How the Hancock, Adams, and Quincy Families Fanned the Flames of Revolution

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