ermuda as its political and economic ties to Britain were strengthened, and its independence on the world stage was diminished. The war had removed Bermuda's primary trading partners, the American colonies, from the empire, and dealt a harsh blow to Bermuda's merchant shipping trade, which would be worsened by the deforestation of Bermuda, as well as by the advent of metal ships and steam propulsion. During the course of the following American War of 1812 (which Americans dubbed the Second War of Independence), the primary market for Bermuda's Turks salt disappeared as the Americans developed their own sources. Control of the Turks finally passed to Bermuda's sworn enemy, the Bahamas, in 1619.
By the end of the 19th century, except for the presence of the naval and military facilities, Bermuda was thought of by non-Bermudians and Bermudians alike as a quiet, rustic backwater, completely at odds with the role it had played in the development of the English-speaking Atlantic world, a change that had begun with American independence.
Fortress Bermuda
After the American Revolution, the Royal Navy began improving the harbours and in 1811 started building the large dockyard on Ireland Island, in the west of the chain, to serve as its principal naval base guarding the western Atlantic Ocean shipping lanes. During the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States, the British attacks on Washington, D.C. and the Chesapeake (which prompted the writing of The Star-Spangled Banner) were planned and launched from Bermuda, where the headquarters of the Royal Navy's North American Station had recently been moved from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In 1816, James Arnold, the son of Benedict Arnold, fortified Bermuda's Royal Naval Dockyard against possible U.S. attacks. Today, the National Museum of Bermuda, which incorporates the "Maritime Museum", occupies the Keep of the Royal Naval Dockyard, including the Commissioner's House, and exhibits
