The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 112

Foreign Intervention: The Influence of the French
their possessions in the Caribbean. 8 The
Americans would then transport supplies
from the European colonies in the
Caribbean to the American mainland
in fast sloops, with the majority of the
goods coming in through Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and Providence, Rhode
Island. 9 The British needed to stop this
trade in war supplies to the rebellious
colonies and thus attempted a blockade.
The British attempts to curtail
war materiel from entering the colonies
experienced problems from the outset.
They had neither enough ships, nor the
correct ships, to enforce a blockade, but
in Boston they made a valiant effort. 10 In
Boston Harbor, the British stopped and
searched all inbound ships, and at night
sent crews out in rowboats to patrol
the shallows, but their numbers were
simply too few and the waterways too
numerous. 11 American vessels would
dart into convenient coves or rivers and
then transport the supplies overland, 12
avoiding the British navy altogether.
Small vessels, privateers, and smugglers
all evaded the blockade. Privateering
and smuggling was a highly profitable
business, 13 and numerous people engaged
in the practice, too many for the
British to stop.
Many private ship owners, such
as William Holland of Massachusetts,
petitioned to fit out their ships as privateers
and engage the British. 14 The
privateers and European powers smuggling
to the colonies seriously hampered
the British war effort. The British experienced
great difficulties in combating
the privateers and could not openly
confront the European powers providing
the supplies. As mentioned, Britain
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