Off the Bricks

Big Scores · STOP 06 · North End waterfront

Customs seized John Hancock's sloop Liberty at this wharf in 1768, and the waterfront rioted. The smuggling case against him was dropped.

In June 1768 customs officers seized John Hancock's sloop Liberty at this wharf, and the waterfront rioted. The Crown sued Hancock for £9,000, and John Adams took the case. The granite warehouses came later, and the marker on them tells a Gold Rush story that has nothing to do with Hancock and everything to do with who actually gets rich. Go read it.

This is stop 6 of Big Scores. Walk it - any two stops are free.

The plate

Lost the Boat Only

Collected on site

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Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Lewis Wharf, 28 Atlantic Avenue, at the foot of Fleet Street
Directions

1

The night of the seizure, the crowd roughed up two customs officers, Joseph Harrison and Benjamin Hallowell, smashed windows at their houses, and burned the Collector's pleasure boat on the Common.

More footnotes on the story card, in the app.

Legend busted, Planes and ships, Crime and punishment, Plaque hunt

In these collections: Legends Busted, Crime Scenes

Near Aquarium

Sources (4)