Customs ships continued to patrol the sea off the coast of America. They would regularly stop merchant ships to examine their cargo looking for illegal goods, and enforcing British customs and taxation laws. The Gaspee was a British Royal Navy ship assigned to customs duty.

The Gaspee was chasing a merchant ship believed to be smuggling goods. On June 9, 1772.The next night, a group of men boarded the Gaspee. They were led by John Brown, a wealthy merchant from Providence. They wounded the lieutenant who was commanding the ship, and set the ship on fire.

The British wanted to know the responsables for this act and they made an investigation also the offer a reward but no one came forward so they never found the people that commit this. The British pay the governors' salary, rather than being paid by the colonies. By doing this they thought they would eliminate the colonies ability to control the governor.