(The following report is excerpted from Staples, pp 102-107)

We now beg leave, most humbly, to report to your Majesty, that on the earliest intelligence of your Majesty's commands, we, with the utmost dispatch in our power, repaired to Newport, where, on the fifth of January last, your Majesty's royal commission was published in the presence of a large number of people, who, on the occasion, behaved with great propriety. We next proceeded to give public notice of the subject matter of the commission and our being assembled for the execution thereof, requesting all persons who could give us any information relative to such matters forthwith so to do.

We beg leave to observe to your Majesty, that the place where the Gaspee was destroyed, is, at least, twenty-three miles from Newport, and the accident of her running aground but a few hours before the attack takes away all possibility of the inhabitants of the town being instrumental in or privy to the destruction of her; nor have we any evidence, even of the slightest kind, to induce suspicion to the contrary.

We further beg leave humbly to represent to your Majesty, that in the part of our duty contained under the inquiry into the assembling, arming, and leading on the people to attack the Gaspee, also the concerting and preparing the same, we have been particularly attentive. But after our utmost efforts, we are not able to discover any evidence of either; and therefore, are humbly of opinion, both from the unforeseen event of the Gaspee's running on shore, the suddenness of the undertaking and its accomplishment, and the total want of evidence of even an intention to destroy her, though many witnesses of credit as well inhabitants of Providence as other places, were strictly examined on this head, that the whole was conducted suddenly and secretly.

On the tenth of June last, about 1 in the morning, a number of armed people, many of whom, by their dress, appeared much above the rank of common people, and were accompanied by several negroes and others, boarded the schooner Gaspee, then on shore on a point of land called Namquit, which is within the township of Warwick, and county of Kent, in this colony, and about six miles from the town of Providence; and after wounding the Lieutenant, and using the crew with great barbarity, first plundered and then burnt the schooner, taking the Lieutenant and his people on shore, to a place called Pawtuxet, about two miles distant. With respect to the conduct of the magistrates, on the morning of the eleventh of June, the deputy governor, being informed of the destruction of the Gaspee, the Lieutenant being wounded on shore at Pawtuxet, first inquiring if any of the offenders were known, and receiving no information of such, immediately repaired to the place, and finding the Lieutenant in a dangerous condition, offered him every proper dencistance, to which the Lieutenant replied, he wanted no favors for himself, but desired his people might be taken care of and sent on board the Beaver, which was accordingly done. The deputy governor then told the Lieutenant the design of his visit was not only to afford him any assistance, but to procure such a declaration from his own mouth respecting the transaction that the offenders might be brought to justice; to which the Lieutenant answered, he would not give him any account of the matter, first, because of his indisposition, and, secondly, it was his duty to forbear any thing of that nature until he had done it unto a court martial.

The deputy governor then asked the Lieutenant if he was willing that his officers and men should be examined, to which, after some refusal, he consented. They were accordingly examined on oath, but were not able to give information against any person in particular. Mr. Andrews, Judge of the court of Vice Admiralty in this colony, attended the deputy governor, and behaved very properly on the occasion. The same day the deputy governor, by letter, informed the Governor of what had happened, and of every step he had taken as a magistrate, and sent him all the depositions. In another letter of the 12th of June, he further informed the Governor, it was the unanimous opinion of a great number of the most respectable inhabitants of Providence, that a proclamation with a proper reward should, by the governor, be issued, for the apprehending and bringing to justice the persons concerned, which was accordingly done. In July following, a warrant was granted for the apprehending one Aaron Briggs, a negro, then on board your Majesty's ship the Beaver, commanded by Capt. Linzee, for being concerned in burning the Gaspee and wounding the Lieutenant. The same was delivered to a sheriff, who, after making his business known, was refused admittance into said ship, but the captain was not then on board. Very soon after such refusal the captain was informed of said warrant and requested to deliver up the negro, whom he acknowledged was on board, but treated the civil authority in a most contemptuous and unjustifiable manner. Here the civil magistrates ceased their endeavors to discover the offenders; for, though there was a Superior Court held in and for the county of Kent in October following the burning the Gaspee, at which the second justice presided, the chief justice being absent, not any charge was given to the grand jury to inquire into that atrocious breach of law, nor any information thereof by the then acting Attorney General, nor was any thing done thereon that we can discover.

Having now laid before your Majesty the substance of the proofs relative to the destruction of the Gaspee, the barbarity and insolence exercised upon the commander and seamen belonging to her, with other necessary matters, we proceed, in obedience to your Majesty's directions, to assign some probable causes which we conceive might lead to so bold a violation of your Majesty's laws and authority.

The great impatience of some people in this colony under any restraint of trade, however illicit; the check which your Majesty's navy officers have put to such trade by the necessary aid and assistance which they have afforded the revenue officers; the plundering and burning a sloop called the Liberty in this harbor, in July 1769, then employed in your Majesty's revenue service, and commanded by William Reid, liberating a vessel and cargo then under seizure by said commander, and in a violent and outrageous manner assaulting and detaining him in this town, in duress, till the accomplishment of the above facts; the same night dragging two boats, belonging to said sloop, through the streets and burning them; and the perpetrators of the above outrage escaped with impunity; not one person being so much as apprehended on this occasion.

It must be further, with humble submission to your Majesty, remarked, that it does not appear to us, that any complaint or information was given to any peace officer or other magistrate against any person whatever, as concerned in the above transaction, excepting four depositions, taken before a single magistrate, and which do not appear to have been laid before the Governor and council, or to have had any effect. Certain persons, principal inhabitants of the town of Providence, in March preceding the burning of the Gaspee, complained to the deputy governor, also an inhabitant of that place, against the conduct of Lieutenant Dudingston for disturbing and obstructing their vessels and boats, firing at and searching them, without showing any commission for so doing, and requested the deputy governor to inform the Governor thereof, that he might inquire into the said Lieutenant's authority; on which the deputy governor laid the same before the chief justice, also an inhabitant of the town of Providence, for his opinion, how to conduct in the affair, to which he soon returned an answer to the following purpose: It was his opinion, "that for any person whatever to come into this colony and in the body thereof, to exercise any authority by force of arms or otherwise, without showing his commission to the Governor, and if a custom house officer, without being sworn into his office, was guilty of a trespass, if not piracy.'' But what effect such an opinion might have on the minds of the perpetrators of the crime, we must most humbly submit. If Lieutenant Dudingston, on his first arrival in the harbor of Newport, had waited on the Governor, acquainting him with his power and authority, and thereby early made his duty a matter of notoriety, he would, at least, have acted a prudent part; but whether his duty obliged him so to do, we do not presume to determine. There is also too much reason to believe that in some instances Lieutenant Dudingston, from an intemperate, if not a reprehensible zeal to aid the revenue service, exceeded the bounds of his duty.

After exerting ourselves to the utmost of our abilities to collect evidence against the persons concerned in burning the Gaspee and wounding the Lieutenant, and judging that we had got all there was any probability of obtaining, we laid such before the deputy governor, the chief justice of the colony and three of his associates, among which testimonies was Aaron's, the negro, wherein some persons are expressly named and charged as guilty, and Mr. Dickinson's, late midshipman of the Gaspee, and on board at the time she was destroyed, very particularly described others. The justices were then informed that the same witness was now present, and might be by them re-examined. Soon afterwards, at the request of the judges, we also delivered them other depositions, which had been laid before us by the Governor, and which tended to discredit the testimony of said Aaron.

The day following, we received their report in the words following:

"The honorable the commissioners appointed by royal commission, for examining into the attacking and destroying his Majesty's armed schooner the Gaspee, commanded by Lieutenant Dudingston, and wounding the said Lieutenant, having laid before us, justices of the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, &c., within and throughout the Colony of Rhode Island, two examinations of Aaron Briggs, two examinations of Patrick Earle, the examination of Peter May, the examination of William Dickinson, the depositions of Samuel Tompkins, Samuel Thurston, and of Somerset and Jack, indented servants, for our advisement thereon:

It appeareth unto us from due consideration had thereupon, that no particular person or persons are made mention of as being concerned in that atrocious crime, except in the examination of Aaron Briggs, a negro, and of Peter May, one of the Gaspee's people. The confession of the said Aaron upon his first examination was made in consequence of illegal threats from Capt. Linzee of hanging him (the said Aaron) at the yard arm if he would not discover who the persons were that destroyed the Gaspee; and besides, most of the circumstances and facts related in both of his examinations are contradictions repugnant to each other, and many of them impossible in their nature. It is evident from the depositions of Tompkins, Thurston, and Aaron's two fellow servants, that he was at home the whole of that night on which the Gaspee was attacked; especially as there was no boat on that part of the island in which he could possibly pass the bay in the manner by him described. In short, another circumstance which renders the said Aaron's testimony extremely suspicious, is Capt. Linzee's absolutely refusing to deliver him up to be examined by one of the Justices of the said Superior Court when legally demanded.

Peter May, in his deposition, mentions one person only, by the name of Greene, whom he says, he saw before on board the Gaspee; but the family of Greene being very numerous in this colony, and the said Peter not giving the Christian name or describing him in such a manner as he could be found out, it is impossible for us to know at present the person referred to. Upon the whole, we are all of opinion that the several matters and things contained in said depositions do not induce a probable suspicion, that persons mentioned therein, or either or any of them, are guilty of the crime aforesaid. It is, however, the fixed determination of the Superior Court to exert every legal effort in detecting and bringing to condign punishment the persons concerned in destroying the schooner Gaspee.

And if the honorable commissioners are of a different sentiment we should be glad to receive their opinion for our better information."

To the latter part of which we answered, "that by our instructions we were commanded to lay before the civil magistrates all such information as we should receive, and as it was their proper office to act thereupon, in such manner as they conceive most likely to answer the ends of public justice, we declined giving any sentiment or opinion in the matter."

Touching the depositions of Aaron, the negro, we humbly conceive it our duty to declare to your Majesty, that the conduct of Capt. Linzee tended too strongly to extort from a weak or wicked mind declarations not strictly true; that some parts of said depositions falsify others; that allowing the account he gave of the time he left the Island called Prudence, the place of his residence, on the night the Gaspee was burnt, and his return thither, to be true, or even near the truth, must render his being at the taking and destroying her, totally impossible, the distance being so great between Namquit Point and said Island. In addition to all which, there is full and satisfactory evidence to prove him, the whole of that night, to have been at home, and the request which he deposed was made him, to carry a person off said Island that night, and which he declared was the occasion of his going from home, proved on the examination of the very person, to be an absolute falsehood; and therefore we are most humbly of opinion, no credit is due to said Aaron's testimony.

May it please your Majesty, the civil magistrates being entrusted with the power of apprehending and committing, and having determined against both, upon the evidence before them, and there being no probability of our procuring any further light on the subject determines our inquiry.

All which is most humbly submitted to your Majesty's royal wisdom.

J. Wanton,              Fred. Smythe,
Dan. Horsmanden,    Robt. Auchmuty