"Ammunition Storage and Boat Shed" Sandys Parish Travelogue by grandmaR

Except for this one, these are all digital copies of film prints from the first visit.

This was built in 1837 (one of the oldest buildings in the yard) as a magazine and once stored 4,860 kegs of gunpowder. The Keep magazine was under the control of the Army until 1930.

Exhibits in this building in 1995 were:

Navigation
Whaling
Pilots & Customs
Bermuda Sloops
Ship models
Guns & Ramparts
Cable & Wireless
Flying boats
Cruise Ships
Bermuda transportation Co.

What this sign says follows:

Top right legend:
"Wooden racks in the building held 4860 barrels of gunpowder - used to replenish stores aboard the Royal Navy ships which operated out of Bermuda in the winter months."

Second right legend:
" The marks of the racks and some of the barrels still remain imprinted in the soft bitumen floor. Bitumen from the pitch lake in Trinidad was used because it did not spark easily and the less likelyhood of sparks in a gun powder store the better."

Third right legend:
"The building was designed to be both bomb and explosion proof. The Bermuda limestone walls are 4 feet thick and 8 layers of brick in the ceiling are topped by further layers of rubble and concrete."

Bottom right legend:
"The ceiling is an extraordinary example of the brick layer's art. Not only is it intricately vaulted but the pointing between the bricks is extruded. Brick was a far safer material to use in a gun powder store than wood which burns easily or cast iron which sparks easily."

Under picture on the left:
"The date show on the end of the building (1850) includes the royal cypher of Queen Victoria - VK for Victoria Regina. Below the date is an air vent."

Over the bottom picture:
" Other buildings in this complex served as shifting houses used to temporarily store munitions taken from ships under repair in the Dockyard. There was also a small cooperage for repairing and making gun powder barrels and a live shell store."

I took this photo because I was very interested in fire and explosion safety.

Except for the top photo, these pictures were taken in 1995. In 2004, we did not have time to tour the lower buildings again.

The sign on the building says Stevens(?) and Pitt Engineers and the other sign talks about Working Loads of the Main Hoist and Auxillary Hoist.

The dockyard was built by convict labor. White as well as black.

Clock building

This shows one of the buildings constructed of limestone at the dockyard

Aside from the Commissioner’s House and the buildings of the Dockyard and its fortifications, no other buildings in Bermuda were ever constructed with this beautiful limestone, as it was too hard to be used for local domestic structures. It also existed only at Ireland Island in amounts that could be economically quarried: such was the luck of the Royal Navy (and our legacy) in the wonderful buildings and fortifications they produced with it.

This is probably the Boat Shed because that has the Great Store House Clock on it.

Cannon from above

A cannon on exhibit in the Boat Shed. A shot has never been fired at an enemy from the bastions of HM Dockyard. But its impressive defences have seen a changing complement of evolving naval guns over the years.

Flags inside the museum

Flags on the upper floor of the Boat Shed building. Bermuda has always been known for boat building. The desirability of the boats was partly due to the superiority of the local red cedar for hulls, but also to their hull design and rig. Being fast sailers, Bermuda-built vessels were preferred by traders, privateers and pirates.
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Bermuda dinghy

Due to the overcutting of the red cedar and eventually to the advent of the internal combustion engine, sailing ships were no longer being build in Bermuda.

From the website:
"Recognising that Bermuda is on the verge of losing part of its maritime heritage, the Museum is attempting to build up a representative collection of small Bermuda-built boats. Volunteers of the Association have been seeking old, and in many cases discarded, hulls for salvaging and possible restoration. The availability of manpower and funds will determine whether a decaying hull can be restored to seaworthy condition, preserved as an exhibit with minimal repairs, or have its lines and available history recorded. "

"With regard to restoration, a workshop has been set up on the ground floor of the Boat Loft, where repairs or reconstruction can be carried out."

Back to the 2004 Overview