Fort St. Catherine is typically referred to as “The Jewel in the Crown”. The Fort is the largest of the Bermuda Forts – and is full of interesting and amazing exhibits, artefacts, and information.
One of the famous exhibits is the replicas of the Crown Jewels of Britain. This includes the Imperial State Crown worn by King Charles III at his Coronation in 2023 – plus the sceptre, orb, and the container of the anointing oil used in the ceremony.
So, perhaps we should more appropriately refer to Fort St. Catherine as the “Crown in the Jewel”
The Fort can be traced back to the year 1609 when Sir George Somers planned for its construction – it was chosen for the line of sight it provides out into the North Channel. In 1612, Richard Moore, the first governor of Bermuda, approved it, and the Fort was built in 1614 – and has since had several subsequent upgrades.
The firepower from the Fort was impressive with five 18-ton cannons installed. One of the innovative features was the “shell lifts” which transported the shells for the cannons on a lift system up through a “tube” from below. A clever aspect was the “speak holes” at both the top and bottom to allow the gunners to advise “coming up” (then likewise coming back down).
Speaking of “Gunners” – one of the underground rooms in the Fort shows pictorials of the “Woolwich Arsenal”, on the banks of the River Thames in London – from where all shells in the British Empire were distributed worldwide. Some people will recognize the word “Arsenal” as a major football (soccer if you prefer) club in London. All shells bound for Bermuda were marked with the letter “B”.
Mention of the cannons in the Fort recalls the famous “Carronades” – smaller but amazingly effective cannons – built in the Carron Iron Works in Falkirk, Scotland (my hometown). It is also noted that Carronades were sold to both Nelson AND Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).
The Fort also had a furnace so that cannon balls could be heated, and when fired, would set wooden ships on fire.
One of the fascinating rooms in the Fort is on the ground level – where many information wall mountings refer to various aspects of the regiments from overseas starting in the early 1700s – for the defense of Bermuda and the Western Atlantic.
One such mounting explains, “Why join the Army?”.
Bear in mind that back in those early days, families were typically large in number, and poverty in many of the towns and cities in the U.K. was widespread – so much so that the latter additions to the family (youngest) could easily be subjected to a lack of food, clothing, and poor sleeping arrangements. Hence going away to the military seemed an easy option. The pay was bad, but the food was good.
Speaking of food, another interesting feature of the Fort is the cookhouse. At first look, it seems far too small to feed the whole fort – but note that at any time the maximum number of troops on site would be in the 15-20 range.
The beach alongside the Fort is called Discovery Bay – the landing spot of the survivors of the Sea Venture shipwrecked on the reefs in 1609 – Sir George Somers. All aboard (150 brave souls, plus a dog) made it to shore. The beach is now shared by the St. Regis Hotel.
Fort St. Catherine is a “must-see” gem of Bermuda – and if you are looking for a historic wedding venue, this is the jewel.
