On Thursday, December 16, 1773, the evening before the tea was due to
be landed, Captain Roach appealed to Governor Hutchinson to allow his
****p to leave without unloading its tea. When Roach returned and
re****ted Hutchinson's refusal to a massive protest meeting, Samuel
Adams said to the assembly "This meeting can do nothing more to save
the country". As though on cue, the Sons of Liberty thinly disguised
as Narragansett[2] [3] Indians and armed with small hatchets and
clubs, headed toward Griffin's Wharf (in Boston Harbor), where lay
Dartmouth and the newly-arrived Beaver and Eleanour. Swiftly and
efficiently, casks of tea were brought up from the hold to the deck,
reasonable proof that some of the "Indians" were, in fact,
longshoremen. The casks were opened and the tea dumped overboard; the
work, lasting well into the night, was quick, thorough, and efficient.
By dawn, over 342 casks or 90,000 lbs (45 tons) of tea worth an
estimated =A310,000 (=A3953,000[4], or $1.87 million USD[5] in 2007
currency) had been consigned to waters of Boston harbor.[1] Nothing
else had been damaged or stolen, except a single padlock accidentally
broken and anonymously replaced not long thereafter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
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