bermuda 4uwith their defeat in the american war of independence the british lost the use of the ports of its former colonies. to compensate work began in 1809 at bermuda's ireland island on the construction of the ?gibraltar of the west?, the royal naval dockyard.the work was carried out using both slaves and convicts shipped from england. of 9,000 convicts put to work here, approximately 2,000 perished during construction, many from yellow fever.the royal naval dockyard remained a major atlantic outpost for the british royal navy until 1951, when most of the facility was closed. a limited number of buildings and facilities remained opened for the support of british and nato ships until complete closure in 1995.clocktower mallsince then the location has been transformed into one of bermuda's most popular tourist areas and is the major port of call for cruise ships visiting the island.king's wharf and heritage wharf are two adjacent cruise ship terminals at the royal naval dockyard. they are the only docks in bermuda capable of handling today's larger vessels. all the regular, contracted cruise ships visiting the island now dock here. they depart from new york, baltimore, and boston.
