? What event constituted the Boston Tea Party? Colonists, protesting the Tea Act, burned a British ship along with its cargo of tea. British ships carrying tea were forced to return to England without offloading their cargo at Boston. Colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded a docked British ship carrying tea and dumped the tea into the sea. British soldiers opened fire on colonists protesting the Townshend Duties in Boston, killing five and wounding eight.