A young boy plays a key role when the War of 1812 comes to his Massachusetts coastal fishing village. The little town of Sandy Bay, Massachusetts, was the site of one of the wildest invasions in U.S. history, when the might of the British Empire came up against hardheaded New England townsfolk. The Invasion of Sandy Bay, based on eyewitness accounts of actual events, tells the tale—through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy—of what happened on the night when the British put too much gunpowder in one of their cannons. The hilarious—and true—events of the topsy-turvy invasion are set against the backdrop of the dangerous lives of the fishermen. Includes author's notes and bibliography.