The thirteen American colonies that rebelled against Britain, were just as English as Bermudians, who regularly traded with those colonies, had family living in the American colonies and sent their children to school in America. It should not be surprising that public opinion in Bermuda was very much divided in regard to the American quest for independence from England.
The British, who knew that Bermudians traded with America, tried to put a stop to that trade, with Bermudians coming close to starvation as a consequence. As the situation became more critical, the Bermuda Government sent Colonel Henry Tucker to Philadelphia to try and negotiate a deal with the Continental Congress, trading salt in exchange for food.
Unfortunately the Continental Congress was not interested in such a deal. What they were interested in, however, was the gunpowder which the British were storing in Bermuda. They made it clear to Colonel Tucker, that any ship arriving in America with British gunpowder, would return to Bermuda stacked with provisions!
On August 14th, 1775, two weeks after Colonel Tucker’s return to Bermuda, two ships appeared off Tobacco Bay in St. George’s. Manning small boats, crew members approached the gunpowder magazine which had been built a couple of years earlier. After cutting a hole in the roof to gain access, they rolled a hundred barrels of gunpower down the hill to the waiting boats. 1,800 pounds of powder was landed in Philadelphia a week later, the rest sent to Charleston, South Carolina.
By the time the theft was discovered, it was too late to pursue the powder-laden ships. Capt. John Dill, a known sympathizer of the Americans and whose property overlooked the area, maintained his innocence when questioned by the Governor’s men. “But you could hardly miss seeing the ships off the North Shore!” “No,” said Dill, “I was reading my Bible!”
Not realizing that the gunpowder had already been stolen, George Washington wrote the following letter:
Having received the gunpowder from Bermuda, the Continental Congress lifted the embargo against supplying provisions to Bermuda and an agreement was reached to again ship salt to America.
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On October 27th, 1975, Bermuda issued four stamps to commemorate the
Gunpowder Plot of 1775. This resulted in several fiery Letters to the
Editor of the Royal Gazette, complaining that such a treasonable act should
not have been commemorated on postage stamps. The final act was the
dismissal of the Chairman of the Stamp Design
Advisory Committee, Mr. Donald E. Gibbons. |
