Patriot Smuggler

 It’s August 24, 1770, and Nathaniel Cary (1727-1797) has just been fined, along with four other men, for being a smuggler by the Boston Committee of Inspection. Nathaniel was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and presumably lived out his life in the Boston area. He died on Nantucket Island, which is off the coast of Cape Cod.

Cary came from a line of merchants, traders, and sea captains. It is not known what he was smuggling, or if he was working in collusion with other gentlemen; however, his activity does take place before the Boston Tea Party of 1773. To deduce what type of activity Cary was involved in, it’s necessary to go back to 1768.

On August 1, 1768, Boston merchants entered into an agreement entitled the “Boston Non-Importation Agreement.” With this agreement, merchants and tradesmen agreed not to import goods from Britain or to export goods to Britain. And though this was not the first step of rebellion against British rule, it was just one of many. This agreement boycotted goods being taxed by Britain:  lead, glass, linen and other high-quality cloth, oil, paint, paper, and tea – just to name a few. The goods being taxed were goods the Colonies themselves did not produced or make.

It was very tempting for Colonists to turn to smuggling:  It was a way to obtain wanted goods, but also undermine British regulations.

The Boston Chronicle newspaper constantly published names of those who were caught “importing”

forbidden goods, the names of their business, and the ships on which the goods arrived. An admonition was also published to not patronize the accused smugglers.

So, back to Nathaniel. As he was fined for disobeying the non-importation agreement, it can be safely assumed he was a merchant. And as a merchant, he would try to serve his clientele in providing them  goods not easily obtained. Yes, he worked outside of the local law; but, in the plus column, he was not a Loyalist who defected to Canada or to England at the time of the Revolution.

Nathaniel Cary is not one of the known members of the Boston Tea Party in 1773. But as he was a native Bostonian, perhaps he gave he them assistance in some way.

So, can a smuggler also be a patriot? I believe so.

Nathaniel Cary is my sons 3rd cousin 8x removed.

Image from Findagrave.com

Note: Unless otherwise noted, all images are from Google.com