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Local historian Dr Reginald Murphy told the Prince that Nelson hated the place, because half of all his sailors who arrived in Antigua died on the island from tropical diseases including malaria and yellow fever, and regarded it as a “hellhole”.
But the harbour provided such superb natural shelter for the Navy’s frigates that they could be stationed there all year round, even through the hurricane season, enabling Britain to dominate the region for decades.
The dockyard is made up entirely of buildings dating from 1750 to 1850, making it a unique time capsule of Britain’s maritime heritage.
Princess Margaret became patron of a fund to restore the dockyard in 1955, to which the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were among the donors.
Today it is one of the island’s main tourist attractions, and will be complemented by Clarence House, which overlooks the dockyard from a hillside.
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