OF all the harbours in Bermuda, only two have direct access to the open sea and both are at the eastern end of the archipelago. Castle Harbour had a channel straight to the ocean, while St. George's Harbour had several bends, which made for difficult navigation in the days of sail.

It is no accident that the settlement of Bermuda in 1612 was founded on St. George's Island, rather than at Somerset, since the route from the sea to Somerset was a tortuous channel through shallow reefs.

The easy access to the sea was an advantage to both friend and foe. Because of the latter, the eastern coast of Bermuda has always been the most heavily defended, beginning in 1612 with the building of forts at the entrances of Castle and St. George's Harbours.

The discovery of the Narrows Channel in the 1790s accentuated the importance of defences at the eastern end and forts were built there into the 20th century. To the north, the extensive reefs ranging some ten miles to seaward were a natural protection that made forts on that coast unnecessary until the dockyard was built.

On the southern coast, the reef formations extend less than half a mile seaward and contain many breaks through which small boats could land on the beaches. In the first decades of settlement, a number of forts were built to cover most of those landing places. No large forts were ever erected on the south coast, although the last guns emplaced by the British Army were at Warwick Camp in 1939-40. There are a few bays of note on that coast, but no harbours of any import.

On the western coast, several channels led into Ely's Harbour, Mangrove Bay and to the anchorages of the Great Sound beyond. Hog Fish Cut was the most important, as it passed close to the shore from Whale Bay to Ireland Island and was the shortest route from the open sea. The early structures defending that channel were Whale Bay Battery, West Side Fort, Wreck Hill, Daniel's Island and several redoubts at Mangrove Bay and finally in the north, Maria Hill Fort.

In 1992, we cut our way through a casuarina jungle to excavate Daniel's Island Fort. The archaeologists uncovered two runs of the wall of the fort, but the other parts were missing. In the 1790s, the fort was described as "a square at two sides sunk in the solid rock, the other two sides are built with stone en barbet, but on proving a Cannon, the explosion bursted the Stone Work". In the rubble from the missing parts of the wall, we found a part of the muzzle of a gun, presumably from the mouth of the burst cannon. The fort appears not to have been rebuilt after the proving accident.

Hog Fish Cut runs past the entrance to Ely's Harbour and makes a sharp turn at Daniel's Island. The purpose of the fort on Daniel's Fort was to cover the bend and also the northward Chubb Cut Channel.

In the later 19th century, plans were afoot to build a new fort at Daniel's Island to cover both channels with longer-range guns, in order to protect the western approaches to the Dockyard against attacks by torpedo boats. A cheaper solution had also been proposed, but it was not until the 1890s that the alternate scheme was approved and carried out. It called for the blocking of Hog Fish Cut by the sinking of an obsolete gunboat, HMS Vixen.

The Vixen was laid down in 1864 and upon launching attended the Naval Review for Queen Victoria at Spithead in July 1867. Shortly thereafter the Vixen was sent in tow to Bermuda, along with her sister-ship, HMS Viper, as the vessels were not designed for open water voyages.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL investigations by Professor Richard Gould of Brown University and the Bermuda Maritime Museum in 1988 revealed that the Vixen was designed as an ironclad ram. The use of ramming in sea battles was first associated with oared galleys. The last major battle to employ the technique of ramming took place was Lepanto in 1571, in the Gulf of Patras off western Greece, after which sailing ships with cannon took over as the weapon of choice.

With the introduction of steam vessels in the 1850s, some naval experts thought ramming might be a good tactic to revive, especially for battle in confined and calmer inland seas. The Vixen and Viper were therefore sent to Bermuda to serve thus in the inner waters of the island.

No enemy vessels ever put them to the test so they served as glorified tugs for the Dockyard. Old photographs show that their masts had been removed. They were therefore probably the first all-steam vessels in use on the Bermuda station.

In 1896, the Vixen was chosen to become a block-ship in Hog Fish Cut, likely making it to the site of its death under its own steam. The vessel was placed athwart the channel just off Daniel's Island and anchored into position. A charge had been placed amidships, which broke the back of the vessel from the keel upwards and it sank.

All did not go according to plan and the bow of the Vixen still protrudes from the sea, a landmark known to Bermudians and visitors alike for 110 years.

Photos show: 1: Hog Fish Cut on the western coast. 2: Daniel's Island Fort uncovered in 1992. 3: Hog Fish Cut at Daniel's Head with the wreck of HMS Vixen. 4: The wreck of the Vixen in Hog Fish Cut. 5: The western approach to the Dockyard

Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. The views expressed here are his opinion, not necessarily those of the trustees or staff of the Museum. Comments can be sent to drharrislogic.bm, to PO Box MA 133, Sandys MABX, or by telephone at 799-5480.