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Revolutionary Talk - We Need a Navy (Oct 2) · Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show Podcast

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Live from the banks of the Sheet Tucked River in the heart of
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downtown Norwich. It's revolutionary talk here on
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WREV, 760 AM for Patriots Talk. The phone and text number is
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209565. Dave, that's 209-565-3283.
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Now here's your host, Gabe Dunn. Well, good day, Narich.
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You're tuned in to WREV 760 AM, We're Patriots talk.
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It's October 2nd, 1775. Beautiful day here in Narch. 66°
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sunny. Get outside, touch the grass.
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You know how they say it. Congress down in Philadelphia
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once again debating the issues of the day.
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Of course. Are they getting anything done?
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You already know the answer to that.
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You're going to laugh when you hear what they're debating now,
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right? You, you know that they're
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debating whether or not we need a Navy.
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I, I, I know what you're saying. I, I hear you.
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I, I hear it. Navy against the Royal Navy.
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Redcoats have the the mightiest fleet in the entire history of
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the world. They got ships of the line that
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would, have you seen these things, 6080, a hundred guns and
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we sit here talking about arming a couple of merchant schooners.
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What the good is that going to do?
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Well, as it turns out, I am of the opinion that it's going to
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do a lot of good. We don't, we don't breathe, we
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don't fight this war without powder, and powder doesn't
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arrive unless we go out and capture it or carry it past the
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British blockade. We're going to need the Navy can
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to do that. Congress can argue all day long
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about reconciliation and petitions, but at the end of the
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day, we need a Navy. We can argue about whether it
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looks bold to build a fleet, but let me tell you something can't
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sink a man O war using petitions.
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You want to join the show today? It's 209565, Dave.
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That's 209-565-3283. That's both telephone and text.
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You can also leave me a voicemail there.
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Not not that I'll answer it, but you can send it to me.
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You can also e-mail me. Do you know that?
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Dave at powder2parchment.org, Powder 2 powder the the number 2
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powder twoparchment.org, Dave at Powder to parchment.org.
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Get your emails there and talk about the issues of the day that
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we're talking about Congress, as I said down in Philadelphia
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debating whether or not we should create a Navy.
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Look, I in my younger days, I sailed the Atlantic couple of
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times I've been to England, seen it, stood in Westminster Abbey
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and sang and worshipped there. I've I've, I've been there.
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That crossing can be quite the thing.
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Going to sea is not easy. I've I've said this for years.
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I will continue to say it every minute of every day.
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The ocean is trying to kill you every second.
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And if you're not up to the task, the ocean will kill you
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and you will be dead. Britain has the largest Navy in
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the earth, on the earth, could be in the earth.
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And we're talking about whether or not we need a Navy to take
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them on. You know, the the best solution
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to this. We get the get the French to do
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it. They got a they've got a pretty
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good Navy. Maybe we can convince them to
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help. Now here's the thing and and and
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I don't I don't know that we're thinking too clearly about all
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this. We get we get ourselves in these
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head games where we say, well, we're going to match them.
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You know, musket for musket, cannon for cannon, ship for
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ship. We don't have to do that.
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We can't in fact today match the king ship for ship.
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We just don't have, we just don't have the resources.
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We don't have the time. Do you know how long it takes to
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build one of these things? Geez, it takes years just to
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build a frigate, to build a Man of War would take us.
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How long did it take them to build that?
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That thing they call over there, Indomitable or whatever it is.
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The one in Boston took them like 20 years to build that thing.
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And the only reason they could build it is because we gave them
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the wood to do it. Well, they don't have that
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anymore. So that's an advantage, I
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suppose. We don't have the time to do all
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that stuff, but we don't need to match them ship for ship.
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There's an old, there's an old saying.
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I think it comes from Africa. John Adams told me this the
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other day. Today.
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We don't need a bunch of ships. What we need is a lot of small
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mosquitoes can sting lions. And he's right.
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If you think about it, the these very small insects can, can
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bring down a lion. They hit it, right?
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I mean, it was, they call it sick, sleeping sickness or
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whatever. The whole thing, you know, goes
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in the tank for the lion and it doesn't work.
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The problem is, of course, we got too many moderates in
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Congress, too many people who are willing to convince
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themselves that somehow or another we're going to, you
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know, restore this relationship with the king and we're going to
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restore this relationship with, with Congress.
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We're not going to folks. It's too late, far too late, and
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it's time to start realizing that we need to stop wasting
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time with petitions. We need to stop wasting time
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with discussions about what we can do to maybe, you know,
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smooth this whole thing over, make it go away.
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And we just need to say, look, we're going to do this.
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We're going to be that mosquito on the ocean that's going to
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sting the Royal Navy. I've heard rumors.
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I've heard some rumors about some things that Navy people
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want to do. You ever hear of this thing that
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goes underwater? What do they call that thing?
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It's a ship. It's a boat.
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It's not a real big ship. It's just just one man.
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It's just a boat, but it goes under the water.
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What do they call that turtle? Something like that.
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I don't know. They're talking about using that
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against the British. Wouldn't that be cool?
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Sinking British ships with with underwater ships?
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That would be great. I'd love that.
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I'd do that, heartbeat. We need to understand that
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unless we have real ships without those ships carrying
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supplies, without those ships intercepting supplies, keeping
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our supply lines open and closing the British supplies
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lines, our army could very well starve to death.
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They don't have enough powder as it is.
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Let's not, let's not screw up the food process and all this.
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Let's let's feed the cause This our revolutionary talk brought
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to you by Liberty Broadside and Press Need a notice mailed to
7:42
the meetinghouse or a stirring ballad printed for the Commons?
7:45
The Liberty Press sets type that bites and pros that sticks.
7:49
Broadside by Don, rally by night, slogans on the cheap and
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speeches that will jolt the sleepy town awake.
7:56
That's Liberty Broadside and Press down on Main Street right
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here in downtown Narch. Stay with us.
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We'll be right back. Welcome back.
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I'm Dave Diamond. This is revolutionary talk right
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here on WREVAM, 760 Norwich CT All right, let's get down to the
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business. Let's get down to the Congress.
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Question before them right now is do we create a Navy, two or
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three ships, no more than a handful of armed schooners to
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prowl our coast, maybe capture a British transport?
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It, it's it, it can be done, folks.
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Adam said it very clearly the other day.
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He was arguing with Dickinson again.
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Look, he said, and and I'm quoting him here, without a
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Navy, we cannot do much. With the Navy, we can do
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everything. That's it.
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But it's not a flowery speech. I mean, he didn't go on for 25
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minutes. You heard some of these people
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down there, some of these blowhards in Congress.
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It's not a petition to His Majesty.
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It's just a plain truth spoken out loud by at least one man who
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can see further down the road than most of us are willing to
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look. We need that Navy.
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Without a Navy, Washington's army Withers on the vine.
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With a Without a Navy, our supplies never reach Boston.
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With a Navy, the British choke us.
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Without a Navy, I'm sorry. The the British will choke us at
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every point. They'll blockade us with one,
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even a little one. We may not control the seas, but
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we can disrupt the sea lanes of communication.
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We can disrupt the British control of this stuff.
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And, and that will keep us alive long enough to make that
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difference. Now, if we were smart, we'd be
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commissioning ships before supper time tonight.
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But instead we get debate, we get dithering, we get arguing,
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we get men wringing their hands over the cost.
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Oh, it's going to cost. Schooners or deer.
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Guns are scarce. Powder, as we know, is a
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problem. Crews have to be paid, contracts
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must be drawn. And they're my friends.
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You see the fatal weakness of Congress.
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They're busy counting pennies and shutting everything down
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while General Howe counts as cannons.
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I'll tell you, we already know this.
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What's priceless is powder, but dearer still.
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It's our liberty. These are things you can't put
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in a Ledger, Congress. And yet they scratched on
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numbers, wondering if boldness will upset the king.
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As if we care. As if the King hasn't already
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branded us as traitors and rebels in every sense of the
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word. The only thing he hasn't done
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yet is stand up in front of parliament.
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Actually, say it. One side got Adams and the
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Firebrands. They see the situation for what
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it is, and I count myself amongst them.
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You can't fight a war without powder, and you can't get powder
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without ships. Somebody's going to have to move
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this stuff. He's blunt.
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He's fiery. It's a thorn in the side of
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every one of these moderates that want to wants to.
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Let's just get along. Can't we all just get along?
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I get it, Dickinson. You know, he's rich.
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He's he's Pennsylvania. He's wealthy.
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He's learned. You know, he's got all these
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books. He's well spoken and he doesn't
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want to burn the bridges with England.
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I get it. Still clinging to petitions.
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He's still clinging to reconciliation.
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And he argues that if we start building a Navy, it'll look like
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an act of open war. Well, damn it, we're already at
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war. Have you not been paying
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attention for the last six months?
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Do you not remember what happened in April when they
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murdered Americans at Lexington Concord?
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Do you not remember what happened at Bunker Hill?
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Do you not remember what's when they burned Charleston to the
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ground? Come on, dude.
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We're at war already. Adam sees it.
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Washington sees it. You and I live it every day.
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The redcoats around Boston don't give a rat's behind about
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Dickinson's olive branch. The king himself didn't even
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read it, folks. Yet Dickinson keeps telling us,
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don't provoke, His Majesty. Don't escalate, damn it.
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Escalate to the Escalate to the freaking roof.
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It's boldness versus caution, liberty versus fear, revolution
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versus retreat. Which man speaks for us as
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Americans? Which man is out there actually
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saying what we need to hear? Is it John Adams who sees the
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necessity of a Navy and ships? Or Dickinson who counts
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shillings and prays that the king will soften?
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We say it the plainest way I know how.
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You can't fire a petition at a man of war.
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You can't sink a a British frigate with a piece of paper.
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You can't stop a blockade with an olive branch.
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You can't feed Washington's army with parchment.
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All the resolutions in the world will not fill a powder horn.
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And yet here we are, start of October, listening to Congress
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weigh whether scooters are too much of an expense, whether a
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Navy is just too bold of a step, just too much.
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While they debate, the British are blockading us.
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And while they while they debate, the Hessians are being
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hired to fight against us. While they hesitate, our
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soldiers of Boston with 9 rounds apiece can't get any more
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because we don't have the ships to bring them to them.
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Let me tell you something about Warren Arch.
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It doesn't wait, it doesn't pause.
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While gentlemen debate, war marches on.
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War sails. War hammers out the anvil of
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delay every single moment. And delay is death.
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We're not asking for a fleet to rival the Royal Navy.
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That's not what we need. We're asking for a few ships.
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Those ships can go out and harass the British, keep our
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lines open, seize their powder. It's not an extravagance.
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It's a necessity. It's not something.
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It's it's it doesn't make sense to me that we're arguing this.
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I know Dickinson is not a coward.
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I know that he's a man of principle.
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I get he loves this country as much as I do, as much as Adams
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does. But his principle of peace at
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any price, even if that price is our liberty, is wrong.
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He might believe the reconciliation is still
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possible, that the king might yet relent if we don't provoke
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him further. But sincerity is not a strategy,
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and good intentions will not keep the British from bombarding
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our harbors again. So here's the choice.
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Narch Adams or Dickinson, who are we going to go with?
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Boldness or caution? Ships or speeches?
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Liberty or supplication? Which man do you think history
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is going to favor? Mark my words, revolution cannot
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be one with parchment. Powder is life, powder is
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liberty, and powder rides on ships.
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If Congress can't grasp that today, October 2nd, then they
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risk strangling this revolution in its own crib.
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Adams is right, Dickinson is wrong.
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And the difference between them is that the difference between
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America as a free nation and America as a colony in chains.
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We can't fire petitions at a man of war.
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Right now we need more than petitions.
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We need schooners, we need powder, we need courage, we need
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sailors, and we need a Congress act like the body of the nation,
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not the servants of a king who already calls us rebels.
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Norwich to New Haven, No one scratches A sharper petition
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then with Widow Cartwrights quills.
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You can get them a Widow. Cartwrights Fine ink and quills.
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Powder may fail, but Inc endures by a dozen.
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And she'll throw in a blotting rag free of charge.
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Cartwright's right. Bold, right.
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Often right. Like your liberty depends on it.
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Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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Welcome back. It's revolutionary talk.
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I'm Dave. You want to join me?
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209565 Dave. E-mail Dave at Powder to
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parchment.org. Let's let's suck Congress for a
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side for just a moment and go overseas just to remind
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ourselves what's going on over there.
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The king is sitting there with a draft of his speech getting
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ready to open Parliament. He's he's not wagging his finger
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about unruly children. He's not saying we these people
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are misbehaving now. He's he's loading up the the
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cannon, putting on the bayonets and he's calling us playing and
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direct in an out, open and avow rebels.
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Think about that. The king whose portrait still
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hangs in our meeting houses, it's on the wall over there now,
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declares us rebels. Yeah, it's not going to be there
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today, I can tell you that. We're taking that son of a gun
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down, not petitioners, not subject.
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He's calling us rebels. And once those words are spoken
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in Parliament, and they will be before this month is out,
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reconciliation is dead. That olive branch petition that
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Dickinson so clings to. If the King even bothers to read
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it, hear it, it's it's going to wither.
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The King's ministers are not wasting their time.
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They're talking numbers, not philosophy.
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How many residents do they need? How many ships do they need to
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send? How many Germans can be hired to
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cross the sea and fight for pay? Yes, Hessians, the King is about
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to buy himself an army from across the Rhine River because
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it's easier to pay gold than to convince Englishman to die in
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America. You ever thought about that?
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He hates us so much that he's willing to pay his own
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countrymen, his own Germans, to come over and die because nobody
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in England thinks this is a good idea.
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But unlike us, they don't have the stones to stand up and say
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it. Well, a couple of them do.
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Thank God for people like John Wilkes, Lord Mayor of London,
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the Admiralty over there in England, sharpening its pencils,
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drawing up charts. Do you know they're trying to
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buy maps? Have you not seen these British
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agents running around buying maps of our coast?
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Don't sell them to them. Don't let them have them.
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They're planning convoys to carry troops to frigates to
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patrol our coast. They're already bombarding our
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cities. British Empire is built on its
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Navy, and its Navy is about to be loosed on us like a pack of
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hounds. And back in Congress, they're
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still debating whether or not we should fight back or not.
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All we need is a couple of schooners.
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All we need is a couple of ships, a couple of crews to go
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out and make it not easy for them.
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May I ask you, Narch, which do you think is more serious, the
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king who calls us rebels and hires Germans, Hessians, or the
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Congress that wrings its hands and says, oh, this sailcloth is
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too expensive. You can't make this up one side
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of the ocean. The Hessians and broadsides on
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the other side, we get questions.
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We don't need a Navy to rule the seas.
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That's not what we need. What we need is one that can
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sting, one that can hurt. The saying goes a mosquito that
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can sting a lion. A schooner with a bold crew and
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a letter of mark can seize powder ships, bring home that
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food, keep Washington's army alive for just another month.
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That's the whole point. So while the king is hiring
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mercenaries and convoy soldiers, Congress wonders whether a
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couple scooters might be too bold.
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Too bold, Too bold, too bold. The king is calling us rebels.
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Too bold when his Navy chokes our own ports.
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Too cold. Too bold when German hirelings
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are passing packing kits to cross the ocean.
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Congress isn't bold enough. Mark this day, my friends.
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Mark it well. If we succeed and we get.
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Some schooners. We got a Navy going, a few
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privateers take prizes if we scrape together enough ships to
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sting that line until he gets tired.
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And this will be the day that America looked to the sea, dared
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to call it her own. Come get your news and your
20:34
brewing. 1 cup strong coffee. Stronger opinions and no
20:37
loyalists allowed past the hearth.
20:39
Missus Tuttle's coffee horse. How Missus Tuttle's coffee
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house. Sorry, Sorry, Mary.
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It's right down there on Nartz Green where rebellion tastes
20:48
like roasted coffee beans and Liberty is stirred with sugar
20:50
and there is not a tea leaf to be found in the whole place.
20:54
That's Missus Tuttle's Patriot Coffee House, Nartz Green, right
20:59
here in Nartz. Let's go to the phones.
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Line one. You're up.
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Sir, give me a letter of mark and I will show you powder
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enough to feed an army. I sail the coast to know where
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the convoys slip and where the guards grow thin.
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Put me and my crew to it and we will take their transports,
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bring the kegs to our wharves, sell the spoils, and pay the
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state's share. We risk our skins on the sea,
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but we will not risk our courage.
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Give us the Commission and we will fill your powder horns.
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Boy, I love to hear that. Wish I was 30 years younger.
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I'd go with you. Jeez, I miss going to sea.
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I really do. There was there was something
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special. He's right.
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All we need are we we can hire these ships, give them a letter
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of market. They we don't even have to pay
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them Congress. You understand that we don't
21:44
even have to get all we got to do is give them a letter on mark
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saying, hey, look, whatever you take, you can sell or keep or
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whatever you want to deal with. Just give us the powder and the
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food for the for the Army line 2.
21:55
Go ahead. Your fishing boats against the
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Royal Navy, Ray, Spare me. Those are toys beside men in red
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with proper training and cannon. When His Majesty ships, choose
22:08
to say your little schooner will be dashed like.
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Driftwood this. Talk of victory is.
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Falling Come on, loyalist Bob. Hey, you know, I I don't think I
22:22
can reach him, folks, but we're going to keep trying.
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Bob is he's he's from aren't you from Norwich over there?
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Oh, he hung up already. I thought he was from Norwich
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and over in England, but it's probably why he moved here.
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That's why I call him Loyalist Bob.
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Line three, you're up. Go ahead.
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Look, a Navy means more than Canon and sales.
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It means contracts for ship rights, cargo for our holds, and
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coin for insurers. I can outfit vessels, higher
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hands and insure the voyages, but I will need guarantees,
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letters of mark, payment for prizes, and assurance the
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treasury will honor debts. War opens markets if you back
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the merchants who run them. Give us the law and the coin and
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I'll sign the bill. That's what I was just saying.
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I mean, we look, all we need to do is pass this.
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We can, we can issue these letters of mark.
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The merchants can, can make some money on this deal, and we win
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because we get to annoy the British Navy, the Royal Navy,
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and we get all those supplies that we can capture.
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It's what it's all about, my friends.
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It's what we got to do. Old Ezekiel's stuff.
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Sorry. Old Ezekiel stuffs kegs and
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pours shot with hands you can trust.
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Need powder that goes bang when it must.
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He ships by night, charges fair and keeps the secret in his
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Ledger. Ask for a barrel by the Tavern
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door and leave coin with Jonathan at the Wharf.
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That's Ezekiel Pritchard's powder and lead.
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Friends, let's not pretend that we don't see what's before us.
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Washington's men are starving for powder.
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Congress knows it. You know it, I know it.
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Hell, the British probably know it.
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And today, instead of moving heaven and earth to fill those
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powder horns, they Congress stands in Philadelphia debating
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whether or not we can dare to build ships, to buy ships, to
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hire ships, scooters, merchants converted.
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Just a handful of cannon. You don't need a lot.
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Some people it sounds like Folly, but listen.
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Folly is sitting still while the king brands us as traitors.
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Folly is begging for mercy from a man who's already written us
24:33
off as rebels. Folly is waiting for the noose
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when you've still got breath in your chest.
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The Royal Navy may rule the seas, but it can't be everywhere
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at the same time. 1 schooner in the right place at the right
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time can bring in enough powder to keep the army alive. 1
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privateer could seize a transport, turn the tide to the
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campaign. These aren't luxuries.
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These are life lines. I say it to you plainly.
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Today, without ships, we cannot survive.
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With them, not only can we survive, we probably thrive.
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Yesterday it's powder, today it's the sea.
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And tomorrow, what will it be? Tomorrow?
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I'm hearing rumors about General Arnold, a man who knows how to
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take action, a man who knows how to lead men.
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A man who knows what has to be done and he's willing to do it.
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Kind of hero America needs. But in the meantime, Congress
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must act the people. We the people must demand it.
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Liberty does not wait for the timid.
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It favors the bold and the daring and yes, even the
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desperate. It's October 2nd, 1775.
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Norwich. Mark it down.
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This is the day we start to think of ourselves as a
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seafaring nation. Not the King's fleet, Not
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Britain's pride. Our fleet, our fight, our
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liberty. Thanks for being here today.
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For revolutionary talk, I'm Dave Diamond.
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This is WREV 760 AM. Make sure you check this out
26:04
Powder to parchment.org. It's the website for the
26:09
station. Send me an e-mail, Dave at
26:11
Powder to parchment.org. We'll see you tomorrow,
26:13
everybody. Have a great day.