The History Of Drake'S Island

A few pictures from the Mount Edgcumbe side of the Sound. The Garden Battery there covered the shallow channel between Drake's and the Cornish side forming part of the Inner Defences along with the King Point Batteries which covered the deep channel between Drake's and the Hoe and the guns on Drake's itself. The outer defences were formed by Forts Bovisand and Picklecomb covering the entrances to the Devon and Cornish sides of the Breakwater respectively and the Breakwater Fort.

The image is a print of the Island from 1779 taken from Mt Edgecomb. Typical for the times it wouldn't be exactly to scale but shows there were still buildings at the top of the Island probably now supporting the Battery on the top of the Island. The buildings on the left depict the Governors House, Barracks and Ablution Block that are still standing together although they weren't complete as they are seen today until 1830. The other buildings shown would have been pulled down before 1900. The Island is bare as the trees and shrubs that can be seen today were bought over and planted in the 1970's when the Island was an Adventure Training Centre.

DID THE GUNS EVER FIRE?
Although the cannon on the Island were certainly fired during gun practice and exercises using smaller charges and hollow shot or shell I haven’t found any record of them firing on an enemy. Before the Island was first manned in 1550 there are a number of records of the French landing and raiding Plymouth. However once cannon were developed and had the range to make the Island a defence point for Plymouth it appears there were no more raids. There was ...
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Always enjoy a trawl through the British Newspaper Archives to look for reports about the history of the Island. It's an online subscription site with a search function and has copies of a huge number of local and national newspapers starting in the late 1700's. Came across the account in the pictures, written in 1809 of a duel on the Island between 2 midshipmen from HMS Charlotte. She was a fifth rate Frigate originally French called "La Junon" of around 36 Guns and manned by a crew of 264. She was on duty in the Irish Station so must have been in Plymouth for either repairs or resupply at the time. I only hope the midshipmen were more accurate when firing their guns. The other picture is of HMS Princess Charlotte.

WHO ENGINEERED THE ISLAND
All the buildings on the Island were designed and built using Engineers, who designed the buildings, Clerks of Works who supervised the construction and Builders (earlier known as Masons) who did the actual building work. Who they were and their background did change over the years though. The first recorded building on the Island, St Michael’s Chapel, was probably built by the Norman invaders sometime after 1066. The Normans used Churchmen, who were...
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THE GUNS DURING WORLD WAR II
Great Britain was not prepared for War when it was declared in 1939, World War I was supposed to be the War to end all Wars and the appeasement policy followed by the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain was popular in the Country. At the start of the war the Island had the same type of guns it had at the end of WWI but fewer of them, 2 x 6 inch breech loaders down from 3 and 5 x 12 pounder Quick Firing guns down from 6. Presumably a couple of the ...guns had developed faults and simply not been replaced. The war saw a rapid upgrade of defences. A 40mm Anti-Aircraft Gun was installed for local defence. The Island role was to protect Devonport against the threat from submarines and torpedo or E-Boats not to form an integral part of Plymouths Air Defence. The pier was built, gun sites strengthened and a Lewis Gun, a machine gun that could be adapted for air defence, emplacement was added. The anti-submarine dragons teeth were upgraded from rubble filled gabions to reinforced concrete and 2 minefield control towers, one at each of the casemates were built. The Sound was mined with subsurface mines tethered to the Seabed. These were connected electronically to the Minefield control towers where they would be set off remotely. This was defence against an invasion and for use against slow moving invasion barges. They could not be used against submarines or torpedo boats as they moved too quickly and leaving mines to be set off by touching the antenna meant a severe danger to our ships given the amount of mines required. Additionally RADAR to detect ships was added and by 1942 the 12 pounders had been replaced by 2 x twin 6 pounders with one placed in front of the casemates and the other at the Western Battery covering the shallower entrance between the Island and the Cornish Coast. The range of the new 6 pounders was similar to the old guns around 10km but its rate of fire significantly increased from 8 rounds per minute to 72 round per minute. It was operated by 6 men, the gun commander who sat to the right using a telescopic sight and traversing handles to aim the gun allowing for deflection, the sight adjuster who sat to the left and adjusted the commanders sight according to tide and 4 loaders, 2 for each gun. Lighting was provided by searchlights that illuminated the Sound. Manning peaked at 490 men although there is no record of the guns having been fired in anger the Island was bombed and was hit by 31 incendiaries and several High Explosive bombs probably a result of bombs dropped off target that were meant for Plymouth or the dockyard with only 1 man being slightly injured. This ended the Islands role as a fort, the pictures are of the minefield control towers with one at each end of the casemates (the square-ish concrete structures similar to pill boxes), a typical twin 6 pounder gun housed in a casemate and the inside the casemate showing a typical layout for the crew.
#DrakesIsland #Plymouth #History #Artillery
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WHY IS IT CALLED DRAKE’S ISLAND
The Island took its original name St Michael’s Island, from the first building, a Chapel, built on the Island sometime between 1088 and 1135. Sometime between 1250 and 1300 the chapel was rededicated to St Nicholas and the Island became commonly known as St Nicholas Island. There was no renaming of the Island during Drake’s lifetime. In fact he didn’t have much contact with the Island. He may have taken refuge on the Island as a nine year old i...
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THE GUNS DURING WORLD WAR 1
The three gun batteries of 3 gun emplacements each built down the spine of the Island in 1898 to 1901 were developed to house the first breech loading guns that entered service in 1894. By 1901 the Island had 2 batteries of 3 x 12 pounder quick firing guns and 1 battery of 3 x 6 inch breech loading guns. By 1905 the last of the 9 inch 9 ton guns from the casemates had been removed and the larger 25 ton guns on the top of the Island had been buried.... The Island was protecting Devonport from the threat of fast moving motor launches and submarines although they also exercised against larger destroyers. To assist the guns 2 searchlight stations were added that illuminated the Sound between the Island and across to Mount Edgcumb and from the Island out towards the Breakwater, Fort Bovisand and Mount Batten together with anti-submarine rubble filled dragons teeth and a submarine boom between the Island following the bridge to Mount Edgcumb. The 12 pounders had a range of 10km and a firing rate 15 rounds per minute manned by a gun crew of 4 or 5. The 6 inch gun looked similar but was a larger gun. It had a slightly longer range, up to 13km but fired slightly slower at 8 rounds per minute though with the same gun crew of 4 or 5. Both guns were a clear improvement on the muzzle loaded guns that fired out to around 4 or 5km and only at a rate of 1 round every 4 minutes by the muzzle loaded guns. It now enabled the Island to engage enemy targets much further out and with a vastly improved rate of fire. In the bigger scheme of defence the Island formed part of the Inner Defences with the Batteries at Fort Bovisand and Fort Picklecomb forming the outer defences. Although the Island garrison exercised and trained regularly no enemy ships or submarines came into the Sound to attack Devonport so the War ended without the Island firing a shot in anger. The photos are of a typical 12 pounder (the gun pointing to the right) and 6 inch gun pointing to the left, the battery positions on the aerial photo where the guns would point out to the entrance of the Sound, the anti-submarine sharks teeth and the view from the Western Battery looking towards the breakwater.
#DrakesIsland #Plymouth #History #Artillery #Cannons
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THE ARTILLERY IN THE CASEMATES
With the development of Ironclad Warships in 1857 the Coastal Defences needed upgraded Artillery to counter the increased armour and with the development of steam engines their increased speed. William Armstrong worked on a number of the next major artillery technological advances. By 1855 he had been able to increase the range and power with advances in metallurgy, the barrel was now rifled for greater accuracy and steel allowing it to withstan...d greater force increasing the size and range which was aided with the development of a shell combining the charge and powder increasing range even further. He was also working on breach loading rather than muzzle loading weapons which would increase the rate of firing but the problem of an efficient gas seal for larger guns hadn’t yet been solved. At this time there was a threat from the Emperor Louis Napoleon of France so the Prime Minister had a large number of Forts known as Palmerston Forts built along the south coast armed with large Rifle Muzzle Loaded Cannon. The Palmerston Forts exist widely today, the casemates on the East of the Island are an example of a Palmerston Fort with other examples at Mount Edgcumbe, Fort Picklecomb and Fort Bovisand. On the Island there 11 of the 21 casemates were operational, each housing a 9 inch 12 ton gun. Additionally there was 1 x 12 inch gun and 3 x 11 inch guns on the top of the Island. The 9 inch gun cost the equivalent of £450,000 each and had a range of around 5km or 3 miles. The 11 and 12 inch guns cost around £1million each in today’s money and had a similar range. The guns would have been fired by a gun team of at least 8 gunners who would manage one shot every 4 minutes. Because of the slow rate of fire the forts were designed to have interlocking casemates that would each fire in turn at an enemy ship as it entered the guns fire zone. Unfortunately for Britain’s finances the muzzle loading guns and Palmerston Forts were all obsolete within 30 years. The problem of the gas seal had been solved leading to quicker, lighter more powerful breech loading guns being manufactured. Being lighter they were also more manoeuvrable. These advances meant fewer guns were required and they could cover wider arcs of fire. The 9 inch guns were tipped onto the foreshore as the casemates were adapted for use as stores, workshops and generator rooms. They were recovered in 1943 to be reworked as guns for RAF Fighters in WWII. The 12 and 11 inch guns on the top of the Island were simply buried until they were rediscovered by the Training Centre in the 1970’s whilst looking for an alleged tunnel to the mainland. The pictures show the casemates from the Sound, each would have fired in turn at an enemy ship, and the Guns on top of the Island.
#DrakesIsland #Plymouth #History #Artillery #Cannons
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THE FIRST GUNS ON THE ISLAND
Although the English had used cannon in battles prior to the reign of Henry VIII it was in the 1500’s that technology had advanced sufficiently that they became a significant battlefield weapon. Henry was really into the technology of the day and imported foreign craftsmen to set up the English Cannon industry and teach English craftsmen their skills. Cannon were made of either bronze or iron and had a lifetime of between 500 and 1000 firings. The...
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The photo of the Drake's Island Sergeants Mess of Christmas 1914 was sent through by one of our community of followers. There is a mixture of Officers and SNCO's and what seems to be 2 Navy Petty Officers bookending the rear row. It seems like there are 11 Gunner SNCO's, which tallies with the records, and 5 Sapper SNCO's bringing some class and intelligence to the photograph. The 3 Officers are in the centre of the front row and it is difficult to see which Corps or Regiment... they are from. The Officer with 3 bars on his sleeve cuff in the centre would be either a Lt Col or Major and probably the Battery Commander. The officer with the cane on his right as you look at the photo is a Captain as indicated by the 2 bars on his sleeve cuff and the one the left without a cane is also a Captain. The photo appears to have been taken on the jetty to the left of the boathouse. There are a couple of mysteries, firstly I have found no mention of the Navy on the Island. It's possible they were liaison officers or spotters to confirm ships as enemy targets. Secondly the Officer without the cane appears to be wearing riding breeches and have riding boots which may indicate he is neither a Sapper or Gunner. Although both had mounted units Drake's Island wasn't really suited to cavalry units. If anyone has any knowledge or theories on the identification of anyone in the photo it would be great to hear from you, similarly if anyone has any old photos pf the Island when it was a military garrison or during it's time as a Training Centre and would be happy to share them please do send them to me. In the meantime thanks to Phil for sharing this photo.
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HOW BIG WAS THE GARRISON ON DRAKE’S ISLAND
The Garrison on the Island varied over the decades depending on the threat to England and subsequently Great Britain. What we can look at is the available barracks space on the Island and also the numbers that were recorded on the Island at various times. The first fortifications were raised in 1550 and the men guarding the Island were from the local Plymouth Militia. A financial record from 1560 shows 2 men were paid 4 shillings for...
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THE ARMY ON DRAKE’S ISLAND
I thought it may be of interest to look at the different units that served on the Island since the first fortifications were established in 1550. This coincided with the age of the canon and meant the Island became key in the defence of Plymouth, its Naval Base and valuable merchant base as approaching enemy ships could now be attacked as they approached Plymouth through the Sound. Initially the Crown granted the Corporation of Plymouth money for th...
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The resident seal has spent the last couple of days supervising my clean up effort without even raising a flipper to help.

After a waddle down the slipway and across the seaweed it was time for a paddle

Saw these guys today, the first ducklings I've seen this nesting season.

Some of the wildlife I have seen over the past couple of days include Oyster Catchers, the first ducklings of the nesting season, Chaffinches and the resident seal.

Been over to the Island for the last couple of days clearing the beach of rubbish as it has been spring low tides. Amongst the rubbish has been some tarpaulin, lots of single use plastic (knives, spoons, food containers, straws), drinks bottles and cans, fishing nets, crab pots, tyres, polystyrene mainly from take away food, electrical cable, a light bulb and a hard hat. Although it's hard work, especially as some of the fishing nets have to be dug out as they are only partly exposed or get wrapped around the jetty the bonus is seeing the animals that use the Island whilst I am working. I'll post some pics and videos in a bit.