The Dartmouth, first of 3 tea ships, arrived in Boston harbor 27 Nov. Two mass meetings (29-30 Nov.) resolved that the tea must be sent back to England without payment of any duty. This Hutchinson refused to permit. He gave orders to the harbor authorities to allow the tea ships to pass outward only upon presentation of a permit certifying that the tea duties had been paid, a position he teiterated on 16 Dec. On the next day, in keeping with a 20-day waiting period under customs regulations, the tea aboard the Dartmouth became liable to seizure for nonpayment of customs duties. On the evening of the 16th some 8,000 people assembled in and near Boston's Old South Church heard Francis Rotch, the Dartmouth's owner's son, inform Sam Adams, chairman of the meeting, of the governor's final refusal. Thereupon, at a signal from Adams, a disciplined group of men disguised as Mohawk Indians rushed to Griffin's Wharf, boarded the tea ships, an, working through the night, dumped all the tea (342 chests) into the harbor. No other property aboard was damaged.

In the celebrated Boston Tea Party, a group of men dressed as Indians boarded three British ships in Boston harbor and threw their cargoes of tea, 342 chests worth of 18,000 pounds, into the water. The action was the climax of growing colonial opposition to the Tea Act.