Rhode Island Sends Ship to Bermuda for Gunpowder
Although the Americans had the British army besieged in Boston, they were severely short on ammunition. In this crisis, the Continental Congress and George Washington both looked to Bermuda for a supply of gunpowder.
One of the pre-war measures adopted by the Continental Congress was an agreement to stop importing and exporting goods to and from Britain and its other colonies. This agreement, known as the Continental Association, was designed to pressure Britain into repealing certain laws which the Americans considered particularly outrageous. The non-exportation part of the Association was scheduled to take effect 10 September 1775, which worried the people in the British colony of Bermuda.
Located a few hundred miles east of the Carolinas, the small Bermuda island group depended on the American colonies for much of its food and other supplies. If the Americans stopped exporting goods, Bermuda would be in real trouble. On the other hand, Bermuda couldn’t afford to join with the Americans in resisting British authority, since, being so small and remote, it was always at the mercy of the British navy. So, in July 1775, a group of Bermudians arrived in Philadelphia and asked the Continental Congress to allow food and other supplies to still be shipped to Bermuda.
Fortunately for the Bermudians, they had something the Americans needed: gunpowder. As George Washington put it, “our Necessities in the Articles of Powder & Lead are so great as to require an immediate Supply.” The Americans imported most of their gunpowder; and while they now needed more than ever, they couldn’t get any from Britain. The American troops surrounding Boston had only enough for a few shots per man; when the British artillery fired at them, they often couldn’t afford to respond in kind, for fear of wasting their precious powder. And in Bermuda was a remote, lightly-guarded magazine (i.e. arsenal) with over 100 barrels of gunpowder. A deal was struck: if the Bermudians would give their gunpowder to the Americans, then the Continental Congress would allow supplies to be shipped to Bermuda.
George Washington had also heard about the Bermuda arsenal. During August and September 1775, he corresponded with Rhode Island governor Nicholas Cooke about sending a ship to take the gunpowder from Bermuda. Under Cooke’s orders, Captain Abraham Whipple of Rhode Island set sail in the armed sloop Katy on 12 September, carrying with him an address to the people of Bermuda from George Washington:
…The Cause of Virtue & Liberty is confined to no Continent or Climate it comprehends within its capacious Limits the wise & the good however dispersed & separated in Space or Distance….The wise Disposer of all Events has hitherto smiled upon our virtuous Efforts….The Virtue & Spirit & Union of the Provinces leave them nothing to fear but the Want of Ammunition….Under these Circumstances & with these Sentiments we have turned our Eyes to you Gentlemen for Relief. We are informed that there is a large Magazine in your Island under a very feeble Guard….I perswade myself you may consistent with your own Safety promote & favor this Scheme so as to give it the fairest Prospect of Success…
On the day after he wrote to Washington to report that Whipple had sailed, Governor Cooke found out that they were over a month late. A Massachusetts newspaper reported that the gunpowder had already been taken from Bermuda: a group of Bermudians had raided the arsenal on 14 August and loaded the gunpowder on board two American ships, which carried it back to Pennsylvania and South Carolina. So, while it didn’t reach the troops under Washington’s command, the gunpowder did help the American cause.
Meanwhile, Whipple was gone on a now-pointless mission. Cooke sent another ship to give him the news and tell him to turn back, but they were unable to find him, and Whipple didn’t find out what had happened until he actually reached Bermuda. When he first arrived, the Bermudians thought his ship was a British warship come to punish them for helping the Americans; when they found out who he really was, they were greatly relieved. Whipple finally returned to Providence, Rhode Island, on 20 October.
As had been agreed upon, the Continental Congress permitted some supplies to be shipped to Bermuda in the fall of 1775. But the gunpowder crisis in America was far from over; for years to come, the Americans would struggle to supply their troops with sufficient ammunition.
Sources
Bell, Peter, Richard William Seale, Carington Bowles, and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon D’ Anville. A new and accurate map of North America. London, Printed for Carington Bowles, 1771. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/74693989/.
“Address to the Inhabitants of Bermuda, 6 September 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-01-02-0311, ver. 2013-08-02). Source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 1, 16 June 1775–15 September 1775, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985, pp. 419–420.