The Search for HMS Gaspee: History, Technology, Citizen Science and Results

6:00-7:00 pm at the Warwick Public Library, 600 Sandy Lane, Warwick. Sponsored by the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission Archaeology Month Program

In July 2022 the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) conducted a 15-day expedition to Gaspee Point in Warwick, Rhode Island, to determine the presence or absence of materials from HMS Gaspee. Patriots burned this Royal Navy ship there by in 1772 as a reprisal against British interference in local trade. The year 2022 is the 250th anniversary of that event, and it was hoped to find the remains of a vessel sometimes called the “harbinger of the American Revolution.” Multiple presentations will discuss the historical materials about the burning of the Gaspee that informed the archaeological research design, the remote sensing surveys to determine what cultural materials might be embedded in the spit, the findings of the RIMAP dive team, how the shore-side research station shared the progress of the study with visitors who came to observe the archaeologists at work, the planned land-side and other investigations that will continue after the first frost, and especially the public involvement in this study.

The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project was created in 1992 to include members of the diving and non-diving public in a professionally organized and directed effort to study Rhode Island’s maritime history and marine archaeology. RIMAP is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with an interest in the maritime history and marine archaeology of Narragansett Bay, the Sounds, the state’s rivers and other inland waters, and how all of these connect Rhode Island to the wider world. In 30 years of historical and archaeological research, more than 1,000 RIMAP volunteer have participated in more than 80 research projects underwater and on land. These Fall 2022 presentations will focus on issues related to the Revolutionary War in Rhode Island, but for information about RIMAP’s research into other periods of history and how to participate, please check out the details at:
www.rimap.org