In October 1774, a vessel called the Peggy Stewart, owned by merchants James Dick and Anthony Stewart, arrived in Annapolis carrying tea. The tea had been loaded onto the ship by a merchant named Thomas Williams, who hoped to harm Dick and Stewart because of a business rivalry. Local merchants refused to pay the tax on the tea when the Peggy Stewart arrived and the ship might have been sent back had Stewart not learned that the ship also contained a load of indentured servants. The servants were not allowed to leave the ship until the tax was paid and if they stayed beyond a certain period of time they would be sent back to England, which would be a dangerous journey in the fall. Unwilling to risk the lives of the servants, Stewart paid the tax and allowed them to come ashore. He left the tea on board and told colonists he would do whatever they wanted with it. Stewart agreed to burn the tea, but a mob formed outside his house (while his wife was giving birth) and demanded he also burn his ship. Stewart did so.
