Captain Michael Corbett and the Pitt Packet Incident in 1769

Captain Michael Corbett and the Pitt Packet Incident in 1769

Donald Doliber, Town Historian
Wednesday, April 8, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Event Center, Abbot Public Library and online

Early revolutionary resistance! 

Hear the dramatic tale of Michael Corbett and his Marblehead shipmates who resisted British tyranny at sea on King Hooper's merchant ship, the Pitt Packet - named after a British prime minister who was sympathetic to Americans' grievances - a full year before the 1770 Boston "Massacre" and six years before the Revolutionary War's first battle in 1775. After the mariners killed a British officer who was trying to impress them into British Navy service, they were brought to trial in Boston but were successfully acquitted by a young unknown lawyer named John Adams. That case launched Adams into professional and political prominence, which grew after Adams successfully defended some British officers a year later, after the so-called “Boston Massacre” on March 5 in 1770. In 1775, Corbett and most of the others would become ship's masters on privateer vessels –– a role that caused most of the deaths of Marblehead's men in the Revolution, including Corbett’s.

Donald Doliber was appointed as Marblehead’s Town Historian after 24 years as an award-winning history teacher, who was selected as the "Outstanding American History Teacher in the United States" by the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.), followed by 17 years as an assistant high school principal. His ancestors arrived in Marblehead in the 1630s, and were fishermen, selectmen, and merchants in the early community and later, and a few served in the Revolutionary War.

This event is presented in collaboration with the Marblehead 250 Committee and Abbot Public Library. 

This program is funded in part by a grant from the Marblehead Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.