 White's Island in 2006 | |
  Location of White's Island in Bermuda | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Hamilton Harbour |
| Coordinates | 32°17′17″N64°47′05″W / 32.2881°N 64.7847°W Coordinates: 32°17′17″N64°47′05″W / 32.2881°N 64.7847°W |
| Administration | |
Bermuda | |
White's Island is an island located in Hamilton Harbour in Hamilton, Bermuda, the only island directly adjoined on all sides by the harbour.
The island was originally known as Hunt's Island. Following US independence, the Royal Navy, deprived of its continental bases between Nova Scotia and the West Indies, established the Royal Naval Dockyard on Ireland Island. In addition to Ireland, Boaz, and Watford islands at the West of the Great Sound, the Admiralty purchased most of the small islands in the Great Sound and Hamilton Harbour. Over the following century, the Royal Navy and the British Army found various uses of these smaller islands.
White's Island served as a United States Navy base (Number 24) during the closing years of the First World War, being used as a staging point for anti-submarine vessels deploying to the European theatre of operations during their trans-Atlantic crossings. [1]
White's Island currently belongs to the Bermuda Government, assigned to its Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation, which has permitted its use for many years by youth charities. The Bermuda Sailing Association (BSA) had an informal lease, which it lost on September 28, 2010, when a minister of the Progressive Labour Party government granted a 21-year lease to a new charity, CARTEL (Challenging and Reclaiming the True Essence of Life), for use in its youth rehabilitation programme. The government of Bermuda closed the Training School, its last facility for juvenile delinquents (a youth prison that had been located on Paget Island, Bermuda, in St. George's Harbour), two decades before. [2] Leases of government land for twenty-one years or longer require parliamentary approval. The PLP government avoided this by granting a lease for one day short of twenty-one years. The BSA was forced to relocate its youth sailing programme to Darrell's Island. The Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association (BASA), which had also long had free use of White's Island for its own youth programme, was advised it would have to pay CARTEL $10 per child per week for its continued use of the island. The Bermuda Rowing Association was permitted to continue its use of the island for its youth programme at no charge. The granting of a lease to CARTEL, which is controlled by PLP party officers, is tied to wider accusations of the misappropriation of government revenues and assets by the PLP, which was defeated in the parliamentary election of 2012.
The association typically welcomes 80 to 120 children a week to the camp, meaning it could have to pay CARTEL as much as $7,200 before the end of the summer. [3]
In 2013, the Corporation of the City of Hamilton revealed its controversial redevelopment plans for the Hamilton waterfront, which include a casino hotel on White's. As gambling is illegal in Bermuda, and a promised referendum on its legalisation has not yet been held, critics have questioned why the corporation and the private company with which it has partnered are already planning a casino. [4]
Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 1,035 km (643 mi) east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina ; 1,236 km (768 mi) south of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia; 1,759 km (1,093 mi) northeast of Cuba, and 1,538 km (956 mi) due north of the British Virgin Islands. Though it is typically referred to in the singular, Bermuda consists of 181 islands; the largest of these islands is known as Main Island. The capital city of Bermuda is Hamilton. Bermuda is internally self-governing, with its own constitution and cabinet of ministers selected from the elected Members of the lower house of a Parliament that enacts local laws. As the national government, the Government of the United Kingdom is ultimately responsible for ensuring good governance within British Overseas Territories, and retains responsibility for defence and foreign relations. As of July 2018, it has a population of 71,176, making it the most populous of the British overseas territories. Bermuda's largest economic sectors are offshore insurance, reinsurance, and tourism. Bermuda had one of the world's highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century.
Bermuda was originally discovered in 1503 by Spanish explorer Juan de Bermúdez. In 1609, the English Virginia Company, which had established Jamestown in Virginia two years earlier, permanently settled Bermuda in the aftermath of a hurricane, when the crew and passengers of Sea Venture steered the ship onto the surrounding reef to prevent it from sinking, then landed ashore. Bermuda's first capital, St. George's, was established in 1612.
Bermuda is the oldest self-governing British Overseas Territory and has a great degree of internal autonomy. Its parliament held its first session in 1620, making it the third-oldest continuous parliament in the world. Queen Elizabeth II is head of state and is represented in Bermuda by a governor, whom she appoints on the advice of the British government. The governor has special responsibilities in four areas: external affairs, defence, internal security, and policing.
Bermuda is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1,770 km (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida and 1,350 km (840 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, west of Portugal, northwest of Brazil, 1,759 km (1,093 mi) north of Cuba and north-northeast of Puerto Rico. The nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 km (640 mi) west-northwest. Although commonly referred to in the singular, the territory consists of approximately 138 islands, with a total area of 57 km2 (22 sq mi).
While Bermuda technically 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 Bermuda sloop is an historical type of fore-and-aft rigged single-masted sailing vessel developed on the islands of Bermuda in the 17th century. Such vessels originally had gaff rigs with quadrilateral sails, but evolved to use the Bermuda rig with triangular sails. Although the Bermuda sloop is often described as a development of the narrower-beamed Jamaica sloop, which dates from the 1670s, the high, raked masts and triangular sails of the Bermuda rig are rooted in a tradition of Bermudian boat design dating from the earliest decades of the 17th century. It is distinguished from other vessels with the triangular Bermuda rig, which may have multiple masts or may not have evolved in hull form from the traditional designs.
L.F. Wade International Airport, formerly named Bermuda International Airport, is the sole airport serving the British overseas territory of Bermuda in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located in the parish of St. George's and is 6 NM northeast of Bermuda's capital, Hamilton. In 2016, L.F. Wade International Airport handled about 402,925 passengers, up 5.6% from 2006. It has one passenger terminal, one cargo terminal, eight aircraft stands and can support all aircraft sizes up to and including the Airbus A380. Currently, seven airlines operate seasonal or year-round scheduled services to Bermuda Airport from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination. Its population of 854 (2016) is one of the smallest of any capital cities.
The BermudaProgressive Labour Party (PLP) is one of the two political parties in Bermuda. At the 18 July 2017 general election, the party won 24 of the 36 seats in the Bermudian House of Assembly to become the governing party. The party was founded in 1963, the first political party in Bermuda, and the oldest still active. It formed government from 1998 to 2012, and again since 2017.
Paget Parish is one of the nine parishes of Bermuda. It is named for William Paget, 4th Baron Paget de Beaudesert (1572–1629).
Hamilton Harbour is a natural harbour in Bermuda which serves as the port for the capital, the City of Hamilton. It is an arm of the Great Sound, and forms a tapering wedge shape of water between Paget Parish and the peninsula which forms Pembroke Parish, and upon which the capital sits.
St. George's Harbour is a natural harbour in the north of Bermuda. It serves as the port for the town of St. George's, located on St. George's Island, to its north. To its south is St. David's Island. The harbour and both islands lie within St. George's Parish. It was for two centuries the primary harbour of the British Overseas Territory.
The following is a list of places of interest in Bermuda.
HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. 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 Imperial wars following settlement. 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 and West Indies Station.
The Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps was created as a registered charity under the Bermuda Sea Cadet Association Act, 1968. The first unit had actually been created two years earlier.
The architecture of Bermuda has developed over the past four centuries. The archipelago's isolation, environment, climate, and scarce resources have been key driving points, though inspiration from Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas is evident. Distinctive elements appeared with initial settlement in the early 17th century, and by the second half of that century features that remain common today began to appear.
The Bermuda Fitted Dinghy is a type of racing-dedicated sail boat used for competitions between the yacht clubs of Bermuda. Although the class has only existed for about 130 years, the boats are a continuance of a tradition of boat and ship design in Bermuda that stretches back to the earliest decades of the 17th century.
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.
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.
Admiralty House in Bermuda was the official residence and offices for the senior officer of the Royal Navy in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, originally the Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station.