After U.S. became independent, the British didn't have any ports in the former American colonies. They chose deepwater cove on Ireland Island, at the western tip of Bermuda, to use as a harbor. It served as a dockyard facility and re-supply depot for ships heading between Nova Scotia and the British West Indies and later became known as the Royal Naval Dockyard.
Between 1814 and 1863, the British built, using almost 10,000 convicts who were quartered on prison ships not far offshore as laborers. The fort was built in Georgian style, using limestone blocks and the British first used it as their base to launch their raid on Washington DC in 1814. During both World Wars, it served as a North Atlantic base, but in 1951 it was abandoned because of the high maintenance costs.
Nowadays the buildings have been renovated and house the Bermuda Maritime Museum, a pub, a cinema, a craft market and the Bermuda Snorkel Park.
The Royal Naval Dockyard is 7 km northwest of Hamilton.
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