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Fomenting Treason in St. George's
By Dr. Edward Harris
Much has been made of the Bermuda “Gunpowder Plot,” whereupon the moonlit evening of Aug. 14, 1775, a clutch of Bermudians stole the government’s gunpowder and shipped it to George Washington, campaigning in New England against the British. That somewhat romanticised tale of a treasonous act represents one of the high points of Bermudian initiative at a time when locals were in constant political warfare with the Governor George James Bruere.
 Recently found documents indicate a more sinister (and treasonous) cooperative venture between Bermudians and the American military. The papers suggest that an invasion of Bermuda was discussed with the Honourable Timothy Pickering Jr., a senator from Massachusetts, by a Captain B. Joel of the island.
Capt. Joel obliged history by supplying the names of the treasonous worthies, including a judge and secretary of government, and a doctor and comptroller, possibly involved in sedition. He drew up a map showing which buildings housed “Friends of America” in the capital Town of St. George.
After chucking some tea into Boston Harbour, the Americans got down to serious insurrection in the spring of 1775. War with Britain began on April 19 with the Battle of Lexington.
Bermuda was not exempt, as is the case today, from catching a cold when America sneezed. The Continental Congress, the fledging governing body of the United States of America, passed an embargo against shipping to and from the other British American colonies, including Bermuda, that directly affected the supply of food to the island.
The governor was of little help, so some of the leading Bermudians negotiated a deal with the Americans. Hence the embargo did not include Bermuda and in exchange, the Bermudians arranged for the “transfer” of Gov. Bruere’s gunpowder to Washington’s militia in 1775. Bermudians were described as “being zealous in the American cause,” but in reality were zealously ensuring their own survival — a longstanding cultural trait.
Five years after the theft, Bermudians were again up to no good with their continental cousins. On July 17, 1780, Capt. Joel wrote to Pickering, who by then was adjutant general and a member of the U.S. government’s Board of War:
“I trouble you once more to mention a circumstance I did not till now think proper to make public, and which I intended to communicate only to you. In the attempt on Bermuda, I have likewise a design of seizing between two and three thousand pounds in specie, which the governor always keeps by him. With this he pays the Garrison, and furnishes the Barracks, Commissary and other departments.”
Capt. Joel’s plan to steal the governor’s piggy bank during an invasion of Bermuda eventually came to naught. Gov. Bruere, quite worn out by his dealing with Bermudians, died on Sept. 10, 1780, before any further thefts of powder or money could take place.
Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, is the executive director of the National Museum of Bermuda.
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