As soon as the "official patriots" dumped the last crate of tea into the harbor, the People's Bicentennial boats emerged from their hiding spot under the Congress St. bridge and charged the 18th century replica of the British ship "Beaver."

The crowd shouted encouragement as the demonstrators boarded the vessel. The protesters threw oil barrels marked "Texaco" over the side of the boat, and raised signs calling for Nixon's impeachment.

The spirited counter-re-enactment was pre-arranged with the officials of Boston 200; what followed was not. While the voice on the loudspeaker called out instructions, one of the People's Bicentennial boats circled the harbor with a large papier mache caricature of Nixon as its passenger. The voice on the loudspeaker worked the crowd expertly. Should Nixon be taken to the Beaver and hung? The crowd said yes. Should Nixon be impeached? The crowd said yes.

One of the owners of the boat, however, said no. As it became apparent that the demonstrators intended to hang Nixon from the "Beaver's" mast, George Davis approached a member of the People's Bicentennial and asked him to keep the caricature away from the boat.

"I can't let this boat be involved in anything political," Davis said. "Personally, I'm for it."

But if Davis kept direct political activity from his boat, he could not kept off the docks. And he made no effort to remove the very political signs hung by the demonstrators from the mast of the "Beaver."

The demonstrators came well-prepared. They brought colorful signs which they floated over the harbor with the help of helium-filled balloons. The signs demanded the "impeachment" of the major oil companies.

The crowd supplemented the signs. One demonstrator leaned over the edge of the dock, hung precariously for a few moments, and yelled "Shoot the 'Beaver'."

So the return of activism to Boston came at an event designed to be historical. But the tourists who turned out to watch American commercialism at work were treated instead to a strong dose of political dissatisfaction.