Photograph of Building the Dockyard Extension, 1902

In 1900, a wave of West Indian immigrants arrived in Bermuda to work on a massive renovation and extension of the Royal Naval Dockyard, involving land reclamation, harbour dredging, and bridge, breakwater and wharf construction. The ‘Dockyard Extension Works’ took five years and required scores of skilled carpenters, masons and other labourers. By 1901, West Indians numbered almost 20 percent of Bermuda’s population.