‘Along with the surrounding defences, [the Bermuda Dockyard buildings] are a vivid reminder of the infrastructure supporting the Royal Navy’s global reach throughout the 19th century and beyond’ — Jonathan Coad 2103On the 3rd September 230 years ago, an event was taking place on the Continent (European) that would have a very beneficial outcome for the remote island of Bermuda, 5,852 miles to the east of Paris, France.On that day in 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed between Great Britain and the new United States of America that ended the American Revolutionary War, which had been raging for almost ten years, during which time Bermuda was threatened with possible starvation, due to a potential blockade of British ports in this hemisphere.On the same day, treaties were signed between Britain and the French, Spanish and Dutch allies of the Americans and some swapping of countries took place, with the Bahamas, Grenada and Montserrat, all islands, being returned to the English: as it had not been captured during the War, Bermuda remained a British territory, as it had not thrown in its lot with the rebels on the continent.The Americans would invade, in a most amicable fashion, 158 years later, but that is another story yet to be written in full.In that intervening century and a half, Bermuda reaped the benefits bestowed upon it, first by Nature and secondly by the geopolitical situation that arose as a result of the Treaty of Paris.Nature, by way of the errant volcano upon which we perch, perhaps temporarily, had placed the island as a most convenient halfway spot between Canada and the West Indies, making an imaginary border with those places for British interests in the western North Atlantic, following the victory of the revolutionaries.The politics of the new day after the Treaty required that the British military look for new naval bases in the area, having lost Boston, New York, the Chesapeake and Charleston in the late War.Bermuda was the obvious spot at which to establish a new dockyard for the Fleet and so it became the headquarters of the North America and West Indies Station, a role it performed in one way or another, and in one name or other, until the end of the Cold War in 1995.Mr M. Gorbachev, therefore, is perhaps no friend of Bermuda, for his Perestroika and Glasnost, back in the USSR, led to the departure of American Forces in 1995, along with the Royal Navy and Canadian military, ending a financial bonanza for Bermuda that had endured for over two centuries.No sooner was the ink dry in the Paris staterooms than the Royal Engineers descended upon Bermuda to check out its fortifications and make plans for repairs or building anew.The chief chap was Major Andrew Durnford, who, in addition to building some forts (and a fine home by Penno’s Wharf), became the first mayor of St George’s, further to the town being incorporated as the capital was shifted to the central Hamilton.Then came Lieut. Thomas Hurd who was tasked with finding a channel through the extensive reefs, so that warships of the Royal Navy could access the inner harbours of the island; ‘Hurd’s Deep’ (now ‘The Narrows’) was discovered off the east end of Bermuda in the 1790s and yet remains the only ship channel to Dockyard, the Great Sound and Hamilton.Hurd produced perhaps the finest and largest historical map of the island, which he completed upon his return to Britain in 1797.So plans were made to refortify Bermuda and that resulted in major works at the Dockyard and in St George’s Parish, starting in earnest in 1809 with the beginning of the naval base at Ireland Island at the western end of the island: the fortifications there remain the largest in Bermuda and extended over 18 acres of ramparts, magazines and other buildings, such as Commissioner’s House.At the east end, five large forts were also under construction for a number of decades, so that military funds poured into the Island to pay for the local labour and material needed for the works, to say nothing of quarters to be rented, food purchased, and boats hired to move men and goods around the archipelago.Such spending spread throughout the community and it may be suggested that the foundations of the modern wealth of the island were laid down by the Treaty of Paris.The Dockyard was largely completed by the late 1850s and thus took its place in the worldwide complex of British naval bases, coaling stations and other settlements of necessity.Bermuda so became a part of the first global industrial corporation, if you will, set up in various countries and islands as ‘Support for the Fleet’ to give the title of the Jonathan Coad’s magisterial new book on the ‘Architecture and engineering of the Royal Navy’s Bases 1700—1914’, just published by English Heritage.Including a chapter on the Bermuda Dockyard, the contents of the 400-page book, beautifully illustrated, range from Sydney in the far east of the globe to Esquimalt in the far west, to Rosyth in the high north and Simon’s Town in the far south.As one of the major jewels in the global crown of the British Admiralty, little expense was spared in the construction of the Bermuda Dockyard, giving us the fine buildings that fortunately survived one official’s idea of bulldozing the lot into the Sallyport for landfill, structures largely designed by one William Scamp, not only here but at Gibraltar and Malta (which is why many are similar in appearance, not due, as the myth goes, to the misallocation of plans from a London drawing office).The stunning buildings of the Dockyard are built of the local, very hard, limestone and have endured to our era of Cultural Heritage Tourism, so one might say that the Fleet is now supporting that vital and fundamental industry for Bermuda.The restoration of the Bermuda Dockyard continues under the auspices of the West End Development Corporation and the National Museum of Bermuda.Perhaps one day, in a world enlightened by volumes such as Jonathan Coad’s (he, by the way, pointed out the importance of the ruined Commissioner’s House during an exploratory visit in 1975), the island will take pride of place in a global enterprise wherein people of many ages and places travel the Earth to see the world heritage that once comprised the bases for the support of the fleets of the Royal Navy, to the men of whom, in many respects, we are indebted for the freedoms that we possess, often without historical thought, in modern times.