Abraham Whipple led the American colonies' first open, armed opposition to British forces in the burning of the ship Gaspee on June 10th, 1772.  Although others organized the expedition, it was he who was in charge of the flotilla of longboats attacking the English Navy ship.

Whipple was later a Commodore in the U.S. Navy during the American Revolution. (One of Abraham's ships--the Katy--was rechristened the Providence. During the Revolutionary War, he was one of the most successful of the navel officers of the Navy of the United States.

Several Bucklins were married to Whipples in the period of 1730-1800. The Whipple genealogy at www.whipple.org/docs/genealogy.html
lists several Bucklins who married Whipples.  The Whipple genealogy includes the following spouses, all of whom are in the Joseph Bucklin Society data base.:

The Joseph Bucklin (1742) who married Amy Whipple was the first cousin once removed of the Joseph Bucklin 5th of Gaspee raider fame.  This Joseph (1742) and Amey certainly wanted to commemorate their combined family names.  Their children were named:

Mehitable Bucklin (b.24 Nov 1774-Rehoboth,Bristol,Massachusetts)
Joseph Bucklin (b.30 Aug 1776-Rehoboth,Bristol,Massachusetts)
Amey Whipple Bucklin (b.4 Jul 1779-Rehoboth,Massachusetts;d.Aft 13 Mar 1810)
David Whipple Bucklin (b.3 Mar 1782-Rehoboth,Bristol,Massachusetts)
Cynthia Bucklin (b.4 Oct 1784-Rehoboth,Bristol,Massachusetts)

From the point of view of the Bucklin family, it is interesting that the Commodore is a descendent of Captain John Whipple (abt 1617-16 May 1685)  The first Whipple in America, John came from Dorchester, England, and arrived in Dorchester (part of present-day Boston), Massachusetts Bay Colonyt,  in about 1632, at the age of 17, aboard the ship Lyon. He was a housewright in Dorchester. In 1658 his family moved to Providence, where he lived the remainder of his life.  This parallels in many ways the Bucklin family, which started in American with William Bucklin who lived in England in the Dorchester area,  came to Hingham (part of present-day Boston) in 1634, where he was a housewright, and moved to the Providence area in about 1645.  In short, the Whipple and the Bucklin in the Gaspee raiding party had family backgrounds that were similar and also connected, as noted above.

See Abraham Whipple biography (Link courtesy of Whipple.org)

Abraham Whipple's wife, Sarah Hopkins, was a niece (daughter of a brother William ) of  Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785) an often governor of Rhode Island and Chief Justice at the time of the Gaspee attack.

After Lexington/Concord, the Rhode Island General Assembly, spurred on by the prodding's of leading sea merchant John Brown, directed the committee of safety to charter two vessels to protect the trade of Newport.  Thus was formed (on June 12, 1775,) the Rhode Island Navy, the first American Navy of the Revolution. Brown chartered one of his sloops, the Katy, to the infant Navy; and Abraham Whipple, as one of Brown’s leading captains was invested with the command of her and a smaller vessel, the Washington.

Whipple thereafter reported to the Continental Congress: that he received his Rhode Island appointment on the 15th day of June (1775); that it was made his duty to clear the bay of the tenders belonging to the British frigate Rose then off Newport; and that on the first day of his appointment he discharged this duty by making prize of one of these tenders (the armed sloop Diana).  Click Here to read the other half of the story on how Brown "just happened" to have ships and men ready for this new navy.

Thus Whipple fired the first cannon fired at any part of His Majesty’s Navy in the Revolutionary struggle. The Katy’s fire power was vastly greater than the Diana, so after half an hour the British abandoned the Diana on the rocks off Conanicut Island (Jamestown.. Rhode Island) and escaped with no casualties. Whipple towed the Diana back to Providence. When the British frigate Rose, commanded by Sir James Wallace, sailed up the bay to Providence to investigate, Newport citizens were able to recapture five out of the six Newport merchant ships that Wallace had previously confiscated. So ended the first naval battle of the Revolution, with the English losing six ships..

Though Whipple was ill-equipped to come to grips with the much better armed Rose, he was a good commander, seizing opportunities when they presented themselves.  One of these incidents further specially provoked Wallace. While the Rose was absent on one of her many foraging expeditions, this time to Fisher’s Island, Commodore Whipple boldly sailed into Newport Harbor and loaded all the remaining cannon from Fort George, Newport Habor, aboard the Katy and transported them to Providence for the use of the Continental forces. Finally the exasperated Englishman wrote a note to Whipple.

From Captain Sir James Wallace of the Rose:

You, Abraham Whipple, on the 10th of June, 1772, burned His Majesty’s vessel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you at the yard-arm. --James Wallace

To which note, Whipple replied with equal brevity: 

To Sir James Wallace, Sir:

Always catch a man before you hang him.
         --Abraham Whipple