Keeping Netherlands Out of the Revolutionary War - Rhode Island Ship Token 1779

The origin and significance of the Rhode Island Ship Token (dated 1779) has long been obscure. (info courtesy of the University of Notre Dame). It is now thought the idea for this medal was conceived during the second half of 1779, sometime after Spain joined France in declaring war on Britain. It's purpose was propaganda - to keep the Netherlands from getting involved in the war in support of the American revolutionaries. The medal was minted in England for distribution throughout the Netherlands, most probably, during the second half of 1780. It commemorated a victory of the British Admiral Richard Howe. During the summer of 1778 Major General John Sullivan, commanding some ten thousand American troops, with the aid of about four thousand French troops under Admiral Comte d'Estaing, tried to take Newport Rhode Island from British control. On August 20, 1778, Admiral Howe defeated d'Estaing's fleet and then headed for Conanicut Island, situated just off the coast of Newport, where the Continental troops were stationed. Hearing of the British advance, the Continental troops were forced to flee from the island and abandon their attack plans.

The obverse of the token depicts Howe's flagship while the reverse shows the American troops fleeing Conanicut Island. These items were sent to the Netherlands as propaganda. The Dutch were sympathetic to the American cause, and the British did not want them to sign an armed neutrality treaty against Britain. In 1779 Russia was protesting the British practice of searching neutral ships on the high seas for items the British considered to be contraband, that is, supplies destined for the rebellious American colonies or any of the allies. At the time the British had blockades against France and Spain, as well as the American colonies, and were boarding all neutral vessels on the high seas that were suspected of trading with any of those countries. In the summer of 1780 Russia persuaded Denmark and Sweden to join in a League of Armed Neutrality against the British inspections; they also made several overtures to Holland to join. In fact, the Dutch island of St. Eustatius in the Caribbean was a center of clandestine (that is, unrestricted) trade with America. Michael Hodder suspects the Rhode Island Ship token was distributed in Holland during the period from the Summer through mid December of 1780 to discourage the Dutch from joining the League. It was hoped this token, showing the hopelessness of the American cause, would influence the Dutch decision. Apparently the propaganda was ineffective, for the Dutch joined the League on December 20, 1780.

Although made in England, the legends on the token are in Dutch. Originally the engraver mistakenly included the word "vlugtende" (fleeing) on the obverse of the coin under the flagship. Clearly this was meant to be on the reverse of the token which depicts the fleeing Continental troops. This error was soon discovered and had to be remedied, as one could easily interpret the obverse to mean the Admiral's flagship was fleeing! The obverse die was recut so that a wreath design replaced the offending word under the flagship. Also, the word "vlugtende" was scrapped off the remaining undistributed stock of the token that already been made.

These tokens were made of brass with a few examples know in pewter. Pewter examples survive for the variety with with vlugente erased but no wreath and for the variety with the wreath. Often Rhode Island Ship tokens are found in circulated condition, suggesting they were used as coins rather than kept as commemorative medals.

More info, for context, from battleofrhodeisland.org. Prior to the War for Independence, Newport was a large, wealthy trading port. It was the fifth largest city in the colonies with a population of about 9500 and the third busiest port. The town grew and prospered by taking advantage of Rhode (Aquidneck) Island’s singularly most important natural resource, Newport Harbor. The harbor is big, wide, deep, and situated such that a sailing vessel can enter or depart regardless of from which direction the is blowing. In addition, the harbor is not prone to freezing in the winter. British Admiral George Rodney called it “the best and noblest harbor in America capable of holding the whole Navy of Britain, and whence they could in all seasons lie in in perfect security and from whence squadrons in forty-eight hours could blockade the three capitals of America, namely Boston, New York and Philadelphia.” Moreover, it was in a good position to blockade patriot privateers and the fledgling navy, operating out of Providence.

Believing, correctly, that Rhode Island would offer little resistance and as an island would be easily defended, Commodore Sir Peter Parker was ordered to Narragansett Bay to deliver General Sir Henry Clinton and his army of about 7100 British and Hessian soldiers to Rhode Island. On December 7, 1776, he entered Narragansett Bay with his fifteen warships and seventy transports. Alerted by lookouts at Port Judith, Rhode Island residents began evacuating livestock, cannon, and anything else of use to the British, to the mainland. Most anyone who had the wherewithal, wealthy merchants, shipowners, captains, to leave did so. The population of the Town shrank to about 4500.

The British landed the next morning at Weavers Cove in Portsmouth and quickly occupied the entire island. By the time the British left in October 1779, Newport’s population, prosperity, and prominence had evaporated. The need to have some 300 cords of wood per week just for the troops caused the Island to be largely denuded. Within three months of their arrival, British had to regularly send wood-gathering parties to Long Island. Ezra Stiles, Newport minister, intellectual, and avid diarist, estimated that some 300 houses were destroyed for firewood or through the depredations of troops billeted therein. Many wharves were taken up for firewood. In the summer of 1778 when word arrived that the French were sending a fleet to Newport, several hulks were sunk to foul the harbor to prevent its use by the French. Having resettled in Providence, Bristol or other area ports, shipowners and captains were not about to return to Newport. One post-war traveler described Newport as desolate and wrote of grass growing in the streets.

The remaining population, mostly Loyalists and Quakers, had to live under strict martial law. Loyalist merchants were permitted to remain in business, but traffic on and off the Island was severely limited because the British feared spies would provide important information to patriot authorities. Anyone caught leaving or returning to the island without a pass was subject to arrest. The churches suffered. Newport resident Fleet Greene wrote in his diary, “the Keys of the Baptist meeting-houses are taken by the barrack-master in order to quarter soldiers, and the Presbyterian meeting houses are taken up for barracks, all the pews pulled down.” One church was used as a stable for horses. Residents were to be paid for housing soldiers or officers in their homes, but payments often never came.

As the occupation dragged on, the patience of both citizens and occupiers wore thin. Altercations between inhabitants and the soldiers, even with Loyalists took place. One Major Barry was said to abuse the inhabitants “in a most shocking manner, not suffering them to talk in the streets, struck Mr. Fairchild for not taking off his hat to a gentleman, as he styled himself.” The Commanding General, Richard Prescott was “Known to strike Quaker men with his cane for failing to doff their hats in respect to him as he approached.” It was a principle of Quaker men to only remove their hats to God while in the meeting house.

British troops were perpetually on edge, their concerns heightened by sniping and almost nightly shelling from the mainland. Patriot members of the population waited impatiently for the occupation to end and lobbied the Continental Congress for an attack to drive out the occupiers. Meanwhile General Washington and his favored General Nathanael Greene, a native of the colony, wanted to maintain the situation as it was. Their reasoning: seven thousand British and Hessian regulars tied up defending an island in Narragansett Bay are seven thousand fewer that could be brought to bear against the Continental Army.

By 1779 strategic changes led the British to abandon Rhode Island of their own accord. Weary of trying to subdue the New England colonies, the British re-directed their efforts to the southern states where the populous was thought to be overwhelmingly Loyalist. Luckily for us, it didn't turn out well for the British - and, as noted above, this propaganda piece was ultimately a failure.

Here’s my new pride & joy in the Colonial Copper collection – a nice bit of British propaganda and a fascinating footnote to Revolutionary War History. Breen-1141, W-1740, R4.

 

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Enjoyed the story and the coin, thanks for sharing.

 

Wow! Great history lesson. My father's grandparents immigrated to the states i 1917, I think. WW I had a terrible impact on my great-great grandparents. My great, great grandfather was killed in France during WW I. Two of my Great Great Uncles were killed in the South Pacific during WWII. My father was a corpsman for the U.S. Marines. My father continued to serve as a corpsman during Korea and lastly in Vietnam, where he injured his back and was medivaced to the states. My brother was in the navy and operated the computers for the big guns they had. They got hit by something and killed the other man in the gun turret (or whatever the Navy called them. I was drafted. I took basic at Bragg, AIT at DIX during the winter, then jump school at Benning. I went to Bragg 82nd Airborne. I was supposed to go to OCS at Sill, but got sick and had two operations. It kept me out of combat. They found out I was a proficient typist, so I went to work as a law clerk typist.
I love history and I am so grateful for your history lesson.

 

That is just fantastic!!!! I knew most of the story already RI being my birth state I've been after one of those myself for many many years now...
Pride and joy is exactly how I would describe that coin if she were mine
(I will get one eventually lol)

 

What a great write-up and beautiful coin. I reasd it with great interest. Thank you very much for posting it!

Congratulations also on obtaining your R.I Token.

Being an early U.S coin collector I also have always had a great interest in this token. As you mention, they were intended for distribution in The Netherlands, but, do you think that any ever circulated in America?

Coming back to your token, I struggle to see where the alledged damage is.

Here is my example - found locally (Germany) about 8 years ago.
(I guess this supports the fact they were intended for distribution in the Netherlands).

 

Wow, yours is really nice, I think there is some mild environmental corrosion on the reverse of mine, but it's hard (for me anyway) to tell with old Colonial copper whether the strike and wear are causing appearance issues or minor environmental issues sometimes. My research hasn't found any evidence they were circulated in the US, but they were apparently circulated as coinage in the Netherlands, which is kind of amusing given their original propaganda purpose and English source, so it's quite possible given transatlantic trade at the time that they did make there way over to our shores. It would be neat to see that confirmed, of course.