Boaz Island, formerly known as Gate's Island or Yates Island, is one of the six main islands of

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. It is part of a chain of islands in the west of the country that make up

Sandys Parish Sandys Parish ( "sands") is one of the nine parishes of Bermuda. It is named for English aristocrat Sir Edwin Sandys (1561–1629), and hence there is no apostrophe in the name. It is located in the south west of the island chain, occupying th ...

, lying between the larger Ireland Island and Watford Island, with which it has been joined by a man-made isthmus. South of Watford Island is Somerset Island. Boaz and Watford are connected to Somerset by Watford Bridge, and to Ireland by Gray's Bridge. Watford's east coast forms part of the edge of the Great Sound. The western end of the channel between Boaz and Watford was blocked by the isthmus, creating a camber that opens to the Great Sound. Boaz and Watford Islands were parts of the Royal Naval base, which included the HM Dockyard on Ireland Island. The Clarence Barracks were built on Boaz in the middle of the 19th century to house convict labourers who had formerly been accommodated aboard

Prison hulks A prison ship, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. Some prison ships were hulked. While many nations have deployed pr ...

. A hospital and other connected facilities were built on neighboring Watford Island. When the Convict Establishment was withdrawn in the 1860s, both islands were transferred to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, and the bridge between was replaced with the man-made isthmus. With the reduction of the

Bermuda Garrison The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory and Imperial fortress of Bermuda by the regular British Army and its local-service militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The garrison ev ...

after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, both islands were returned to the Royal Navy in the 1930s. From 1939, Boaz Island and Watford Island were used as Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda (which had previously been located in the North Yard on Ireland Island). The primary role of the air station was the servicing, repair and replacement of spotter floatplanes and flying boats belonging to naval vessels. Early in the Second World War, with no other units to fill the role, aeroplanes from Boaz Island were used to maintain anti-submarine air patrols, using whatever aircrew were on hand, including pilots from the Bermuda Flying School on Darrell's Island. Subsequently, target tugs were based at the air station to service the Allied naval vessels working-up on Bermuda's waters. The air station was placed on a care and maintenance footing after the war and both islands were among the former Admiralty and War Office lands transferred to the local government in the 1950s. All that remains of the Fleet Air Arm facility today is a hangar on runway road, and two slips.

References

Islands of Bermuda Sandys Parish Installations of the British Army Royal Navy shore establishments World War I sites in Bermuda World War II sites in Bermuda {{Bermuda-geo-stub