HISTORY:
The original H.M.S. SULTANA was a Royal Navy revenue cutter and dispatch boat that sailed the Chesapeake Bay of the American Colonies of His Britannic Majesty King George III in the years immediately prior to the American War of Independence. The original ship was the smallest schooner ever registered on the British Royal Navy Lists. Built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1767, as a merchant vessel to carry cargo to and from ports along the coast of North America, she was sold to the Royal Navy shortly after she was completed.
The current SULTANA is an authentic replica constructed locally by a non-profit organization using traditional ship building skills. She was launched in Chestertown, MD, on March 24, 2001 having been constructed from a draught of the original SULTANA recorded by Royal Navy surveyors on June 21, 1768 at Deptford Navy Yard outside Greenwich, England.
SULTANA sails the waters of the Chesapeake Bay each year from April through November providing educational programs for over 5000 students annually. Onboard activities provide hands-on education in the history and natural environment of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Sultana serves as a floating classroom for learning about colonial maritime history, as well as the rich ecosystems of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Sultana also offers land-based educational opportunities in the form of classroom outreach programs and boat-building courses at the Schooner Sultana Shipyard in Chestertown.
BEGINNINGS IN BOSTON:
In 1767 in an effort to raise money for England by taxing the thirteen colonies, Parliament passed the Townshend Act. The Townshend Act placed taxes on several important items in the Colonial economy including paper, paint, lead, glass and tea. Reaction to the Townshend Act in the thirteen colonies was so negative that on March 5, 1770, Parliament decided to repeal most of the duties, however, they decided that the tax on tea would remain. As a result, many colonists refused to buy tea that came to America from England. Instead they smuggled in tea from other countries or made their own tea from local spices. Soon merchants in England began to lose money, especially the East India Company. In order to keep this company from going bankrupt, Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773. For reasons of economics and social liberty the colonists were outraged and the seeds of dissent began to grow in the New World.
On December 16, 1773, a group of angry rebels calling themselves the “Sons of Liberty" protested the Tea Act and, disguised as Mohawk natives, boarded three ships in Boston Harbor and proceeded to dump over 10,000 pounds of tea into the harbor. King George III reacted to the “tea party” by ordering the closing of the port of Boston.
While Boston’s was by far the most famous tea party that occurred in the colonies, it was only the first of many protests against the Tea Act that took place along the Atlantic Coast. When news of the closing of the port of Boston reached the Chesapeake Bay port of Chester Town, (now Chestertown) on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the spring of 1774, town leaders called a meeting to discuss what actions should be taken. The local chapter of the “Sons of Liberty” boldly put forth a list of grievances, that became known as the “Chestertown Resolves”. These stated that it was unlawful to buy, sell, or drink tea shipped from England.
Shortly after these resolves were printed, word came to the citizens that a ship in the local harbor, the brigantine GEDDES, had come to port with a shipment of tea. As the story is told, on May 23, 1774, a small group of men (unlike their brethren in New England, in broad daylight and without Indian disguise) forcibly boarded the ship and threw its cargo into the Chester River.
The “Resolves” are a matter of historic record, reported in the Maryland Gazette, but for the tossing of tea, no contemporary written historic account has been found. The earliest dates to the end of 19th century. Chestertown's local tradition is very strong and passionate and Tea Party remains a major part of the town’s history and identity.
THE CHESTERTOWN TEA PARTY:
Chestertown now celebrates an annual reenactment of the “Geddes” event and tossing the tea into the Chester River is the centerpiece of the Chestertown Tea Party Festival. The event is celebrated each Memorial Day weekend with a festival and historic reenactment called the Chestertown Tea Party Festival.
To determine the cache location you must locate the plaque commemorating the first known engine house of the Chestertown Volunteer Fire Company. Reading the plaque, determine the "Site" number AND the date - the plaque is located close to where the above coordinates have taken you. Then you must read the below nautical signal flags and apply them as directed.
LATITUDE: These three flags give you the last three numbers for the latitude, i.e. N39 12._____
LONGITUDE: First: the four numbers in the date of the first Chestertown engine house represent A, B, C, and D. Second: add A and D; then Subtract C from D; then add the two sums. Third: subtract the "Site" number of the plaque. Fourth, add this sum to the Longitude given for the SULTANA cache listing. Fifth: read these two nautical signal flags and add that number to what you determined in the previous step. The result is the Longitude for the cache location.
You need not touch/disturb the vegetation or objects to view the cache. Although camouflaged, the cache is in plain view.
After finding the cache you might visit the many shops in the downtown area - of interest might be the food and drink available across the street at “Play It Again Sam.”
First-to-Find certificate for the FTF geocacher. Also a $1 coin is available if you contact the honey table at the Saturday morning Farmers Market (first coordinates for this cache). The coin will not fit in the cache. Coin is dedicated to Sacagawea, the woman who guided Lewis and Clark on their search through the west of our country.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.