History
After the American Revolution in 1776, the British, who were no longer able to use ports in the former American colonies, needed a new naval base that had the capacity to repair warships and serve as a midway station between Nova Scotia and the British West Indies.
Bermuda fit the bill. The Royal Navy selected Ireland Island at Bermuda's western tip, which provided a natural deepwater cove, a huge sheltered anchorage and commanding land and sea views of all approaches. Military engineers drew up surveys and construction began in 1810.
It was a huge undertaking. Most of the back-breaking work was carried out by British convicts quartered in 'prison ships' - old, permanently docked hulks with unspeakably crowded conditions and wretched sanitation. Outbreaks of disease, including yellow fever, claimed hundreds of prisoners. In all, nearly 10, 000 convicts were sent to Bermuda between 1814 and 1863 to work on the Dockyard and related projects.
The main elements of the Georgian-style, limestone-block Dockyard fort were completed in the 1820s, but construction on other buildings, including many of the magazines, continued until the 1860s.
One of the Dockyard's first military operations took place while the fort was still being built: during the War of 1812, a British fleet set sail from here in August 1814 on the infamous raid that sacked and burned Washington, DC. In the years that followed, the Dockyard not only kept tabs on American activities in the Atlantic, but also on French privateers in the West Indies.
In the 20th century, the Royal Naval Dockyard served as a North Atlantic base during WWI and WWII and was used briefly by NATO during the postwar period. Still, with the collapse of the British Empire, activities at the Dockyard base tapered off. Strapped for cash, the British Admiralty decided it no longer needed the remote outpost and in the 1960s the Royal Naval Dockyard was closed. Subsequently, the property was turned over to the Bermuda government for civilian use. In 1975 Queen Elizabeth II herself came to showcase the Dockyard's new life by inaugurating the opening of the Bermuda Maritime Museum within the walls of the old fortress.
