Bermuda Maritime Museum
Encyclopedia
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
and explores Bermuda's history. The maritime museum
Maritime museum
A maritime museum is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water...
is located within the grounds of the fortress Keep of the former Royal Naval Dockyard
Royal Naval Dockyard, 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...
in Sandys Parish
Sandys Parish, Bermuda
Sandys Parish is one of the nine parishes of Bermuda. It is named for English aristocrat Sir Edwin Sandys , and hence there is no apostrophe in the name, which is pronounced "Sands"....
on the Ireland Island
Ireland Island, Bermuda
Ireland Island is the northwesternmost island in the chain which comprises Bermuda. It forms a long finger of land pointing northeastwards from the main island, the last link in a chain which also includes Boaz Island and Somerset Island. It lies within Sandys Parish, and forms the northwestern...
at the western end of Bermuda. The BMM publishes a number of books relating to Bermuda's history
History of Bermuda
-Initial discovery:Bermuda was discovered by Juan de Bermudez in 1505.The island is shown as "La Bermuda" in Peter Martyr's Legatio Babylonica . Bermudez returned again in 1515, with the chronicler Oviedo y Valdés...
.
History
After the English colonies in North America had established their independenceAmerican Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, Bermuda was developed as a major British naval base to control the sea lanes to North America. The Dockyard construction started in 1809 and continued for a century. Buildings of the Keep were constructed using the local limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. Work was done initially by slaves, later by convicts, prisoners, and laborers imported from the West Indies. The dockyard closed in the late fifties, and buildings started to fall into disrepair. In 1974 the Bermuda Martime Museum took over the site of the Keep and restoration began.
Buildings
The 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) Keep of the dockyard was its citadelCitadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
and arsenal
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
and protected it against potential attacks from land or sea. Defenses include bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s "A" to "G", ramparts and casemats, equipped with numerous guns including now displayed 24-pounder and 32-pounder carronade
Carronade
The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...
s, 6-inch shell guns and 8 inches (203.2 mm) magazines breech-loading guns. The Keep Yard is surrounded on three sides by buildings and magazines, the fourth side is the location of a statue of
Neptune
Neptune (mythology)
Neptune was the god of water and the sea in Roman mythology and religion. He is analogous with, but not identical to, the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-influenced tradition, Neptune was the brother of Jupiter and Pluto, each of them presiding over one of the three realms of the universe,...
. The 1837 Shifting House once stored muskets and gunpowder. Among the storage facilities are the 1850 Ordnance Building that stored 4,860 kegs of gunpowder on a floor of non-sparking bitumen, the 1852 Ordnance House, and the 1853/1890 Ordnance House. The 1870 High Cave magazine is located above a now flooded cave. The Commissioner's House takes a commanding position at the center of the Keep. Designed by Edward Holl it was erected within five years in the 1820s as the world's first residence using prefabricated
Prefabrication
Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located...
cast-iron for its structural framework. It decayed after the departure of the British, but after the museum took control in 1974, it has been restored over a period of 25 years.
Exhibits
The Commissioner's House is used to display a number of exhibitions. The basement shows Bermuda's Defense Heritage, a display about Bermuda's defenses and fortifications and the role of local forces in world war I and II. The pillored hall is site of a 2-story History of Bermuda mural by the Bermudian artist Graham Foster. The main floor has a number of themes related to Bermuda's historyHistory of Bermuda
-Initial discovery:Bermuda was discovered by Juan de Bermudez in 1505.The island is shown as "La Bermuda" in Peter Martyr's Legatio Babylonica . Bermudez returned again in 1515, with the chronicler Oviedo y Valdés...
including slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
. One room is dedicated to the history of the Bermuda Race
Bermuda Race
The Bermuda Race, or Newport Bermuda Race, is a biennial yacht race from Newport, Rhode Island to the island of Bermuda, a distance of 635 nautical miles across open ocean. The first Bermuda Race started in 1906 from Gravesend Bay, N.Y. with three entries. The race was held several times in the...
. The upper floor contains collections of maps, books, coins, maritime art, and exhibits concerning activities of the Royal Navy and the US Forces, specifically during WW II. Other buildings show shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
artifacts, local watercrafts, or are under renovation (2009).
The High Cave magazine displays artifacts relating to prisoners from the Boers wars, and WW I and II.
A small building, the Dainty/ 1906 RA Store, shows yacht Dainty, once a local participant of the Bermuda Race
Bermuda Race
The Bermuda Race, or Newport Bermuda Race, is a biennial yacht race from Newport, Rhode Island to the island of Bermuda, a distance of 635 nautical miles across open ocean. The first Bermuda Race started in 1906 from Gravesend Bay, N.Y. with three entries. The race was held several times in the...
, that was built more than a century ago and at least three-times restored.
The Keep Pond once used to transport ammunition from outside anchored ships to the fortress is now home of the Dolphin Quest, a place where visitors can interact with dolphins.