“Infernal hole” to Antigua's jewel in the crown

Five years of UNESCO World Heritage status for Nelson’s Dockyard

Looking today at the beautifully restored Georgian buildings with a dazzling blue sky above and azure waters beyond, and it is hard to understand British hero and namesake Horatio Nelson’s description of the dockyard as an “infernal” and “vile” hole when posted to Antigua over two centuries ago. It is also hard to understand why it took until 2016 for the world’s only working and beautifully preserved Georgian dockyard to gain World Heritage status, to which, as even UNESCO concluded, there is nothing comparable in the region. Being designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site can be a very long and often arduous process, with some sites around the globe waiting near on 25 years to gain status. To be inscribed on the list, a place or structure must be of “outstanding universal value” and have cultural, historical and/or natural significance - all of which the dockyard has in spades. Thanks to the unwavering commitment of celebrated local historian, Dr Reg Murphy, who together with his team, wrote and submitted the successful nomination dossier to UNESCO, and testament to the efforts of the National Parks Authority (NPA), stewards of the dockyard for over 35 years, Antigua & Barbuda joined the prestigious list of other international historical hotspots across the globe five years ago.

As one of the Caribbean’s best examples of historic preservation, Antigua’s Naval Dockyard and Related Archaeological Sites certainly ticks the boxes of UNESCO’s requisites to become a World Heritage Site, although unsurprisingly, a lot has changed since Nelson’s time. As the lynchpin in Antigua’s tourism product, in addition to its immaculately restored historic buildings, it is now home to spectacular yachts, world-class restaurants, boutiques, the world-renowned Antigua Sailing Week and was voted as Best Attraction in the Caribbean by USA Today readers to boot. Nelson’s Dockyard’s rich history dates back to the early 18th century when the British Royal Navy recognised the strategic importance of the harbour both as a natural hurricane hole as well as a convenient place to monitor their enemy France’s naval activity. At this time, Caribbean sugar was funding the British Industrial Revolution and the sugar plantations in the region had to be protected at all costs. As well as this, the dockyard grew from strength to strength since it was also the only harbour in the region that had the capacity to carry out naval ship repairs.

A young Horatio Nelson – he whose famous statue presides over Trafalgar Square in London - came to the island in 1784, some 20 years before his heroic death at the Battle of Trafalgar, to enforce British laws in the colonies as the captain of the HMS Boreas. However, it wasn’t until the 1930s that Nelson was chosen as the site’s namesake and by 1961 the Dockyard was extensively restored and reopened as a historic site. When the National Park Act was passed by the Government and the NPA was formed in 1984, the 16-mile area officially became the country’s first and foremost national park. It is now the most popular attraction in Antigua and certainly on the to-do list of any visitor to the twin islands.

Nevertheless, although Horatio Nelson gets all the glory for the three years that he was based in Antigua, it is the enslaved ancestors of today’s islanders who were the true creators of this important place of history. It is certain that without them neither the dockyard would have been built nor would the Royal Navy have achieved the success that it did over the years. In fact, 130 enslaved workers were forced to build the dockyard - and their labour wasn’t only used for construction. More than 75 percent of the Dockyard’s workers were Africans who used their valuable skills to keep it running, including shipwrights, blacksmiths, carpenters, caulkers and sailmakers. Keeping the dockyard’s African heritage in the spotlight, Antigua & Barbuda commemorated the five-year anniversary of its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation in July 2021 with a number of celebrations under the theme “From Dockyard to Shirley Heights – Celebrating Our Lives, Our People”. The succinctly named “Exhibit 8”, an art exhibition to immortalise both free and enslaved Africans who worked at the dockyard, was an extension of an ongoing research project to discover the names and jobs of all of them, lest they are forgotten in the annals of time. The poignant name derives from an explosion that blasted through English Harbour killing eight enslaved African men on 8th March 1744. Projects like these are vital to ensure that Antiguans are aware of their place in world history and the role that their forebearers played in the development of the naval dockyard. Indeed today, the descendants of the Africans who used their crucial skills to build and run the dockyard, are using their own skills to make certain that Antigua’s little slice of Georgian England continues for generations to come.