A Sunny History Lesson

by Tim Grimes

The other mystery about Bermuda, is why aren't there more British visitors? In fact total visitor numbers have fallen by 14% since 1980. Over 80% of visitors are from the USA, many arriving on massive cruise liners which moor alongside the shore in the deep waters of this bit of volcanic crust.

An archipelago of more than 100 islands, the principal isles are linked by bridge and form one continuous land mass 22 miles long, although inlets, meandering roads and the (nominal) 20mph speed limit, make most journeys seem longer. Not that it matters - driving through the bright pink oleander bushes and verdant banana trees, watching brightly coloured birds flying over lush vegetation, is a pleasure itself. Some 62,000 people (60% black; 40% white) live in bright pastel houses, all with white stone roofs designed to catch the rain for underground tanks - this is Bermuda's domestic water supply. Given the high standard of living (by 1979 half the population owned their own homes and, in 1984, the World Bank ranked Bermuda per capita income amongst the top ten in the world) and the need for Bermuda to import just everything, it's unsurprising that this is not a budget holiday.

My wife and I, and our children aged 9 and 11, spent May half-term in this British dependency, 600 miles off North Carolina and 1,100 miles north of the Caribbean. Bermuda is warmed by the Gulf Stream yet distant enough from the USA's eastern seaboard to avoid hurricanes. We enjoyed seven sunny 80 degree Fahrenheit days; we were lucky: rain fell only in the night storms (rain falls evenly throughout the year). A good week to choose, as the American and Bermudian schools are still in term.

The Spaniard, Juan de Bermudez, found the place possibly as early as 1503. It was only in continual occupation from 1609 when the Sea Venture, bound for Virginia Colony, sank off the islands, supposedly giving Shakespeare the plot for Tempest in 1611. The wreck is depicted on Bermuda's arms and its flag seen, together with the Union Jack, all over the islands. The venturers, under Admiral Somers (who gave his name to the earlier title of Somers Islands) were saved, rebuilt the ship as the Deliverance (a replica of which can be seen at St George) and arrived in Virginia about 10 months late. Returning in 1612, it took a further three years for James I to grant settlers the right to a general assembly, giving Bermuda today the third oldest parliament in the world. Parliament, which sits in Hamilton, the capital, follows the Westminster model and can be visited in action very informally - you just walk in and sit down. We visited the House of Assembly (Fridays) at the Sessions House, and the Senate (Wednesdays) at the Cabinet Office. The courts are another British institution: "M'Lady" the judge, presiding in long black dreadlocks and a short grey wig and red robes, vented her frustration on prosecuting counsel who was labouring over an esoteric point of law, when we called in. The dispassionate prisoner had clearly lost the plot some while ago - and probably the appeal.

St George, at the eastern end of Bermuda, was the original capital. The present church dates from 1713, which is believable looking at the crudely carved beams and columns. It is colonial and dignified and the final resting place of slaves and free men, most of whose identities have long been eroded from the soft gravestones. Governor Sharples and his ADC, murdered during unrest in the 1970s, are also buried there. Bermuda National Trust's museum, at St George, majors on the Colony's 1860s sanctions-busting role for the Confederacy. Fortunes were made on Bermuda as trans-Atlantic cargoes arrived to be shipped on to the South in smaller, swifter blockade-runners. (Help make your own fortune by joining the Bermuda National Trust  there, or at one of its other properties: $35 per family buys a year's membership, which is reciprocal with our own National Trust costing £57).

The many other seventeenth and eighteenth century buildings, including the original state house, are really worth a look, to appreciate the early years of this colony, but the town crier, the ducking stool and the general tourist tat shops are indignities introduced for the general touchy-feely disneyfication and filleting of the facts that seems to make it digestible to the American cruise trade. Perhaps I overstate it, but this particular World Heritage Site seemed to have been fashioned for the massive ships moored alongside, dwarfing the town and disgorging their passengers so precisely during the intervals between prepaid feeding on board, that you could set your Swiss timepiece by the flows across the gangplanks.

All the well-known Swiss watchmakers are represented in Hamilton, where their wares are offered "up to" 30% below USA prices. So that could be a way of mitigating the comparatively high cost of Bermuda. (It may be however, that the best prices for Swiss timepieces, are in Switzerland, but if you are in the market for a watch, it might be worth a preparatory phone call.)

In 1815, St George relinquished its role as capital. Hamilton is at the centre of the islands and also has a deep water shore, enabling today's cruise liners to moor right up to Front Street shadowing the principal shops on the opposite side. Excepting the Swiss watch sellers, Trimingham's is one of the oldest established (and sells the least tasteless souvenir polo shirts). Part of the colonial story, Triminghams credits itself with inventing the civilian Bermuda Shorts which businessmen wear today - in bright reds, yellows and greens, with long socks and blazers. These shorts copied the visiting regiments, stationed at Bermuda's many forts, whose soldiers were allowed to cut down their breeches in the heat. Now the only military presence is the Bermuda Regiment - the indigenous conscript, volunteer and professional working militia with an impressive band, which beats the retreat every month along Front Street.

The economy has undergone enormous changes: Early trades of shipping and shipbuilding (using local cedar), slavery (abolished in 1834) and salt are evidenced throughout the islands; agriculture, once an important export, is now limited to small holdings growing vegetables and cereals - I saw no livestock although there may be some; and the comings and goings of UK and USA militias, have all made their impressions. Now the main money-earners in Bermuda are offshore insurance (and other finance) and tourism. Tourism by steamships, was well under way by the 1920s. Air travel - initially flying boats to Darrell Island (the subject of a display at the Airport) - brought more visitors, supplemented again from the sea with the resurgence of cruise ships in recent years. Employment in tourism, and the development of hotels - together with American import tariffs - finished Bermuda's famed onion cultivation, still commemorated in names of pubs and bars throughout.

Tourism helped to promote the single-track railway which once ran from one end of the islands to the other. Even disregarding the benefit of hindsight, you have to conclude that it was a romantic notion destined to failure: approved in 1924, begun in 1926, and opened in 1931, it is said to have been the costliest on earth - and never profitable. The railway was sold, for very little, to the government in 1946 and, in 1948, dug up and loaded lock stock and barrel onto ships bound for British Guiana. For transport construction, these guys clearly weren't up to the Somers lot three hundred years earlier. We walked several of the remaining 18 miles of well-marked, cool and over-grown railway trail and I spent some while browsing the rare photographs and models at the Railway Museum kept by Rosa Hollis  at the old Aquarium Station, near Flatts village.  The railway's demise was hastened by the introduction, in 1946, of motorised traffic, which had been banned by a 1908 act of parliament. Today, there are so many cars that they are limited to one per household and this must be one of the few places, in the west, where visitors are simply not allowed to hire.

There is even less evidence of Bermuda's World War II activities than of its railway. Some 1,200 British intelligence staff were recruited to the basement of the Hamilton Princess Hotel, to intercept wartime communications from USA to Europe. So 1,200 Brits had a good war! The US forces occupied part of the islands under Lend Lease, from 1940, leaving in 1995

After the loss of the American colonies, Bermuda had become strategically important for the Atlantic Fleet and one of the early campaigns reliant on Bermuda was the 1812 Anglo American War. British land forces, and the Royal Navy, left Bermuda in the post-war reduction in defence spending. The Navy's presence was concentrated on the now-restored Dockyard, presided over by twin clock towers, at the west end of the islands. Despite its incorporation, now, of a mall selling the whole range of souvenirs aimed at the cruise ships, the stunning architecture in soft, weathered, limestone - and the setting - make this a very attractive part of the colony. Local glass-blowing, ceramic and other activities are also housed in the Dockyard. The nearby Maritime Museum tells the story of provisioning and maintaining the fleet and the defence of the station

Bermuda is an interesting combination of British influences: the Queen, the Governor, parliament, the courts, the 9 parishes with their parish churches, the annual agricultural show, driving on the left, the red post boxes, the policemen in their blue helmets - and American: the Bermuda dollar, pegged since 1972 to the USA dollar which circulates alongside the local currency, the accent, the spelling, and the beamed-in 50 channels of TV - with perhaps a touch of Caribbean.

When you want a rest from history, there are just so many other things to do: There are plenty of public and private sandy beaches (many in tiny coves); loads of golf courses; riding (Spicelands is now the only hacking stables); Gibbs Hill lighthouse with its view over the greater part of the colony, boating, yachting, fishing, the crystal caves, the really slick zoo, and opportunities to see the myriad species of brilliantly coloured fish at the Aquarium and to see and walk amongst the fish and touch and feed them in the original under-sea walk. For the full story on all this, just look at Bermuda's excellent visitors' website at www.bermudatourism.com.

Eschewing the challenges of hiring motor scooters - the locals interpret the curiously metric 35kmph signs as a minimum, not a maximum - we got about mostly by the frequent and friendly local buses in their pink (the colour of the sand) and blue (the sea) livery. A weekly pass, which includes the many ferry routes, costs $36 per adult, will probably break even and certainly avoids the need to have the correct change otherwise demanded for every journey. For shorter journeys, there are also loads of (not unreasonably-priced) taxis which can be ordered by phone, or hailed in the street.

Because of rebuilding work, which we had discovered at the Hamilton Princess, we ended up at a self-catering apartment. Not a bad outcome in view of restaurant prices - to which a 15% tip is added. I wouldn't recommend where we stayed (a character, whom we came to know as Ronald the 'roach, was sharing our accommodation - with his family), but a list of self catering apartments - and all other types of accommodation - is available from the websites above. Basing yourself at Hamilton, hub of the bus system, would save time. We flew BA, the only UK carrier (7 hours out; 6 hours back) although Delta and others fly in from New York and elsewhere in the north east USA (there are also flights from Canada) which could open opportunities for a cheaper trip combining Bermuda with the USA. So with a bit of initiative and the internet, it isn't too difficult to put together your own sunny history lesson for a week or two.

First published in VISA issue 43 (autumn 2001)