They hid loaded boats in rivers and kept watch from the coves - if they caught the British napping, or it rained, they made their moves. Stories of their experiences, for many years they told of sneaking to the New York Market, and coming back with gold. But they also climbed to rooftops or stood along the bay to watch the burning of their boats captured on the way. For many times they suffered loss of cargoes and their boat, yet, they were men of courage, for their spirits kept afloat. The refugees were Loyalists, sympathizers of the crown.
History recalls their havoc wreaked in many coastal towns.
Davenport, a refugee, Toms River was his bounds. He helped to burn the village, then he roamed to other grounds. In Forked River, after plundering farm and saltworks of Sam Brown, he fell by patriot's swivel cannon, when he left Waretown. They say it happened on a barge, filled with picarroon, who scattered and hid in the woods, and fled by light of moon. The saltworks, made by settlers, were important to the day.