Nelson’s Dockyard Antigua

NELSON’S DOCKYARD Marina ~ Antigua West Indies ~ Best UAV Drone Caribbean Aerials ~ WeBeYachting.com/This video is of beautiful Nelson’s Dockyard Marina ~ English Harbour Antigua West Indies. Nelson’s Dockyard is a cultural heritage site and marina in English Harbour, Antigua. It is part of Nelson's Dockyard National Park, which also contains Clarence House and Shirley Heights. Named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, who lived in the Dockyard from 1784 through 1787, Nelson's Dockyard is home to some of Antigua's sailing and yachting events such as Antigua Sailing Week and the Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting.English Harbour quickly became a focal point for the establishment of a naval base in Antigua. Its position on the south side of the island meant it was well positioned to monitor the neighboring French island of Guadeloupe. Additionally, the harbour is naturally well-suited to protect ships and cargo from hurricanes. In 1671 the first recorded ship to enter English Harbour was a yacht, the “Dover Castle.” It was chartered to the King by a Colonel Stroude for the use of the Governor of the Leeward Islands when he visited the islands under his jurisdiction and "chased ye pirates." The first reference to the defence of English Harbour occurs in 1704 when Fort Berkeley was listed as one of the twenty forts established around the coast of Antigua. By 1707 naval ships used English Harbour as a station, but no facilities had yet been built for ship maintenance or repair. By 1723 English Harbour was in regular use by British naval ships and in September of that year the harbour gained a reputation as a safe natural harbour when a hurricane swept ashore 35 ships lying in other ports in Antigua, while the HMS Hector and HMS Winchelsea, both moored in English Harbour, suffered no damage. Soon British naval officers petitioned for the building of repair and maintenance facilities in English Harbour. In 1728 the first Dockyard, St. Helena, was built on the east side of the harbour and consisted of a capstan house for careening ships, a stone storehouse, and three wooden sheds for the storage of careening gear. There were no quarters for dockyard staff or visiting sailors and the seamen themselves conducted all work and repairs on the ships. Naval operations in English Harbour soon outgrew the small original dockyard and plans were made to develop the western side of the harbour with more facilities.