When We Destroyed the Gaspee: A Story of Narragansett Bay in 1772

 I n 1782 Justin Jacobs wrote a certain number of letters to Daniel Pearce, who had been his shipmate and comrade in 1772. These missives, still preserved, refer entirely to the destruction of the Gaspey and by their tenor one would fancy that Jacobs was contemplating writing a history of that affair, for he asks his old shipmate to refresh his memory on this point or that concerning minor details of the action. It is from this correspondence that the present story is formed, and set down after such fashion as one who had read the letters carefully might suppose Jacobs himself would have written the account. The Author.