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HMS ''St John'' was a
HMS ''St John'' was a Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
6 gun schooner attacked by American colonists in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
in 1764.
History
Rhode Islanders were violently opposed to the passage of theSugar Act
The Sugar Act 1764, also known as the American Revenue Act 1764 or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on 5 April 1764. The preamble to the act stated: "it is expedient that new provisi ...
in 1764, because the colony's main industry was producing rum
Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Phili ...
from molasses
Molasses () is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, method of extraction and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and flavour foods ...
. To collect the tax, the British sent several ships to New England, including .
In 1764, crew members on another British ship, HMS ''St John'', had allegedly stolen goods from Newport merchants. Therefore, a group of Rhode Islanders took control of Fort George on Goat Island in Newport harbor and fired cannon shots at the British ship. The shots were one of the first open acts of rebellion against the British government in America.
The Rhode Islanders were acting under orders from local officials, but they dispersed before HMS ''Squirrel'', a twenty-gun ship, arrived at the scene. ''St John'' successfully fled the harbor and played a part in moving gunpowder away from Nassau on 4 March 1776 following the amphibious raid on Fort Montagu
Fort Montagu is a small fort of four cannon on the eastern shore of New Providence Island (Nassau) Bahamas. Peter Henry Bruce oversaw the construction of the fort that began in 1741 to defend the British possession from Spanish invaders.
Co ...
.
See also
* * ''Gaspee'' AffairReferences
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:St John (1764) Newport County, Rhode Island Maritime incidents in 1764 Frigates of the Royal Navy