While 600 chests of tea were en route to New York aboard a ship named the Nancy in late 1773, the merchants who had originally ordered the tea agreed that they wouldn't accept it. New York's governor, William Tryon, said he would let the tea-bearing ship land, but would not send any soldiers to protect the shipment. As word of the Boston Tea Party reached New York, tensions rose. But it was months before the Nancy, delayed by bad weather, actually showed up in New York. When the ship finally arrived in April 1774 a secret deal was cut and Tyron agreed that the tea from the Nancy wouldn't be allowed ashore. Meanwhile, the London, another tea-bearing ship, arrived. The captain of the London first denied that he had tea, but a crowd came aboard and searched the cargo, finding 18 chests of tea, some of which they dumped into the river. The next day, the colonists escorted the captain of the Nancy onto his boat and sent him away – with the Nancy's tea still unloaded. Unbeknownst to the crowd, however, the captain of the London, who had fled during the violence, stowed aboard the Nancy and made it out of New York safely.
