 Construction of British Army's magazine on Agar's Island, Bermuda in 1870 | |
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  Agar's Island | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Great Sound |
| Coordinates | 32°17′38″N64°48′32″W / 32.294°N 64.809°W |
| Administration | |
Bermuda | |
| Parish | Pembroke Parish |
Agar's Island is an island of Bermuda. Located in the Great Sound, near to the shore of Pembroke Parish, it was owned by billionaire James Martin, and was historically a secret munitions store, part of the Bermuda Garrison of the British Army.
Bermuda had become an Imperial fortress, the primary base, dockyard, and headquarters of the North America and West Indies Squadron of the Royal Navy following the independence of the US. The British Army had consequently garrisoned and heavily fortified the colony.
In the 1790s, when the Royal Navy had begun planning what would become the Royal Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island, it had purchased most of the smaller islands in the Great Sound and Hamilton Harbour. Although the Royal Navy made occasional use of these smaller islands, it was to be the army that would carry out the greatest development on them. Many were used to compose a Prisoner-of-War camp during and after the Second Boer War. Agar's, however, was to see another use.
Although the ring of fortresses operated by the Royal Garrison Artillery held munitions stores in their magazines, central supply depots were also operated by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, which operated a depot on Ordnance Island, dangerously close to the King's Square of St. George's town. In 1870, a secret, underground powder magazine was built on Agar's Island, reputed to be the largest in the world at that time, although the army remained highly secretive of its existence. The magazine still exists, restored by James Martin, although it is not open to the public. [1] [2]
During the final year of the First World War, the United States Navy was permitted to establish a supply station on Agar's Island, as well as a Naval station on White's Island. These facilities were closed on 1st April, 1919, following the cessation of hostilities. [3]
While the defence of Bermuda remains the responsibility of the government of the United Kingdom, rather than of the local Bermudian Government, the island still maintains a militia for the purpose of defence.
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, which historically, along with Bermuda, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Malta, had been designated an Imperial fortress rather than a colony. It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop. The regiment is included in the British Army as a defence engagement force.
Kindley Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base in Bermuda from 1948–1970, having been operated from 1943 to 1948 by the United States Army Air Forces as Kindley Field.
The governor of Bermuda is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda.
HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. The Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride the homeward leg taken by many European vessels from the New World since before its settlement by England in 1609. French privateers may have used the islands as a staging place for operations against Spanish galleons in the 16th century. Bermudian privateers certainly played a role in many English and British wars following settlement, with its utility as a base for his privateers leading to the Earl of Warwick, the namesake of Warwick Parish, becoming the most important investor of the Somers Isles Company. Despite this, it was not until the loss of bases on most of the North American Atlantic seaboard threatened Britain's supremacy in the Western Atlantic that the island assumed great importance as a naval base. In 1818 the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda officially replaced the Royal Naval Dockyard, Halifax, as the British headquarters for the North America Station (which would become the North America and West Indies Station after absorbing the Jamaica Station in 1830.
The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was created in 1894 as a reserve for the Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison. Renamed the Bermuda Rifles in 1951, it was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965.
The Bermuda Militia Artillery was a unit of part-time soldiers organised in 1895 as a reserve for the Royal Garrison Artillery detachment of the Regular Army garrison in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda. Militia Artillery units of the United Kingdom and Colonies were intended to man coastal batteries in times of war, which were manned by under-strength numbers of regular army gunners in peace time. The unit was embodied during both world wars, fulfilling its role within the garrison, and also sending contingents overseas to more active theatres of the wars.
The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory and Imperial fortress of Bermuda by the regular British Army and its local militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The garrison evolved from an independent company, to a company of Royal Garrison Battalion during the American War of Independence, and a steadily growing and diversifying force of artillery and infantry with various supporting corps from the French Revolution onwards. During the American War of Independence, the garrison in Bermuda fell under the military Commander-in-Chief of America. Subsequently, it was part of the Nova Scotia Command until 1868, and was an independent Bermuda Command from then until its closure in 1957.
Prospect Camp, also referred to as Prospect Garrison, was the main infantry camp of the Bermuda Garrison, the military force stationed in the Imperial fortress of Bermuda. It also contained Fort Prospect, Fort Langton, and Fort Hamilton, as well as being the base for mobile artillery batteries, manned by the Royal Artillery. Outlying parts of the camp were disposed of in the early decades of the Twentieth Century as the garrison in Bermuda was reduced. The core area, including the barracks, passed to the local government when the garrison was withdrawn in 1957.
The Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications is the name used by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee to identify collectively as a World Heritage Site St. George's Town, founded in 1612, and a range of fortifications, batteries, and magazines built between 1612 and 1939, the last of which was removed from use in 1953.
Lieutenant General Sir George Mackworth Bullock, was an officer of the British Army. He served during World War I, rising to the rank of lieutenant general, and was also the one-hundred and eighth civil Governor and military Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda.
St. David's Battery is a disused fixed battery on St. David's Island, Bermuda maintained until 1953 by the Bermuda Garrison of the British Army. It was built and manned by the Royal Garrison Artillery and the Royal Engineers, and their part-time reserves, the Bermuda Militia Artillery and the Bermuda Volunteer Engineers. Its rifled breech-loader (RBL) artillery guns guarded the eastern approach to St. George's Harbour. In wartime it served as an examination battery.
The Western Redoubt, or Fort William, is a square fort built on a crest on the eastern side of Government Hill, and within the boundaries of the original main British Army camp in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, St. George's Garrison.
The United States Naval Station Whites Island was a United States Navy (USN) facility located on White's Island in Hamilton Harbour, in the British Colony of Bermuda, 640 miles off the coast of North Carolina.
The Bermuda Base Command was a command of the United States Army, established to defend the British Colony of Bermuda, located 640 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It was created in April 1941 when United States Army troops were sent to the island.
The Bermuda Militia Infantry was raised in 1939 as a part-time reserve of the British Army's Bermuda Garrison.
St. George's Garrison was the first permanent military camp of the Bermuda Garrison established in the British colony and Imperial fortress of Bermuda, with construction of Old Military Road and the original Royal Barracks commencing during the war between Britain and France that followed the French Revolution. It would remain in use until 1957, when it was transferred to the civil (colonial) government with most of the other Admiralty and War Office properties in Bermuda.
Lord Salisbury described Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, and Halifax as Imperial fortresses at the 1887 Colonial Conference, though by that point they had been so designated for decades. Later historians have also given the title "imperial fortress" to St. Helena and Mauritius.
Scaur Hill Fort, also called Scaur Hill Lines and Somerset Lines, is a fortified position erected in the 1870s at Scaur Hill, on Somerset Island, in Sandys Parish, the westernmost parish of the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda.
Fort George is a square fort built on the crest of Mount Hill to the west of St. George's Town, near to, but outside of the boundaries of the original main British Army camp in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, St. George's Garrison.
On Tuesday morning, April 1st, an interesting and unique ceremony took place in Hamilton Harbour when the United States nava1 base on White's Island was closed and the American naval establishment which had occupied the island since 1st April, 1918, was withdrawn.
At 11 a.m. His Excellency the Governor, accompanied by his staff, embarked from the Club Steps on the W. D. S. L. "Lord Kitchener" and proceeded to the Island where he was welcomed by Captain R. H. Jackson, U. S. N., Senior Officer present, and his staff; Vice-Admiral Morgan Singer and staff having previously landed on the Island. The whole party then proceeded to the flagstaff where a guard of honour of American bluejackets was drawn up. His Excellency the Governor, having inspected the guard, thanked Captain Jackson for the honour offered to him (the Governor) in mounting the guard on this occasion. Captain Jackson, addressing His Excellency, said:
"Your Excellency: I now hand over this Island and Agars Island which have been utilized by the American Navy in this Colony for the maintenance of its organization in the war which we have been privileged to wage side by side with the British nation
"We have received throughout our stay here the most cordial assistance and support at all times and in all our duties.
"When the history of this war comes to be written no feature of it will prove to be of more lasting significance than the close and effective cooperation between the British and American nations in the great fight now happily concluded for justice, humanity and peace."
The American flag was then lowered to the sound of the general salute, all present standing at the salute during the lowering of the colours.
His Excellency in reply said:
"Captain Jackson. I appreciate most heartily the kind words you have spoken. It has been a great pleasure to us to have you in our midst and I thank you for the unfailing courtesy and ready help which we in these Islands have invariably received from your great Navy.
"I recall with pleasure that it was my privilege on the 4th of July last to entertain a large contingent from the American Navy at Government House, a memorable occasion which will ever remain among my proudest recollections, an occasion which was a signal example of the close and abiding friendship between two great branches of the Anglo Saxon race - a friendship which we pray will last for ever, and which no enemy can withstand.
"I thank you warmly for the honour you have done me in mounting this guard on this occasion. You carry away with you the best wishes of all the inhabitants of these Islands and I wish you and all officers and men of the United States Navy Godspeed and good fortune where ever your duties may call you."
After the lowering of the flag His Excellency and staff, Vice-Admiral Morgan Singer and staff followed Captain Jackson on board the U. S. S. Tallahassee, which had been anchored in the harbour between the Club Steps and White's Island, and were piped "over the side" with the usual naval honours.
Cordial farewells were exchanged and upon the Governor leaving the ship a salute of 17 guns was fired.
Immediately upon the conclusion of the salute the Tallahassee weighed anchor and steamed out of the harbour. Captain Jackson later embarked on the U. S. S. Chattanooga, which after saluting the Vice-Admiral on this station with 15 guns, proceeded to sea, firing a salute of 21 guns as she passed the Ducking Stool, The land Saluting Battery near that point returned this salute with a similar number of guns.
It is the first time in Bermuda's history that a government of an alien nation has been granted authority to establish a base in this colony.
In order to meet various exigencies the establishment was opened shortly after the United States declared war on Germany. During its occupation, White's Island, Agar's Island, and other places have been under the control of the naval authorities, a number of naval units being stationed at each place.
The existence of this base has been a boon to Bermuda in several ways, and Bermudians generally will regret its closing down and the departure of Uncle Sam's naval forces from the Colony.