25 February 2023
When I heard about the organised tour to Fort Connaught I knew I had to join. The ticket sales was actually quite competitive and I only managed to snatch 1 ticket, so unfortunately I couldn't bring my friend along. Although I generally do not like to join organised tours, due to the many restrictions they impose and the crowd, they however tell interesting stories and give insights into the history of the place. I definitely learnt a lot about Fort Connaught's role during the Japanese occupation during the tour. And of course I visited the Fort Connaught a 2nd time after the tour, so I could explore more of the area.
History
Fort Connaught was a coastal fort sited on Pulau Blakang Mati, present-day Sentosa Island. The fort was part of a system of forts built from the mid to late 1800s to defend Singapore from maritime threats. By 1880, three coastal artillery forts were completed on the island. From west to east there was Fort Siloso, Fort Serapong, and Fort Connaught. Together with the Mount Imbiah Battery, and the Anti Motor Torpedo Boat (AMTB) defences at Berhala Reping, they form a formidable coastal defence that protected the vital shipping passages to Keppel Harbour. Up to World War Two, Pulau Blakang Mati was the most heavily fortified place in Singapore.
Fort Connaught started off as Blakang Mati East – renamed in 1890 after the Duke of Connaught’s visit to Singapore. Construction of the fort had started on 4 July 1878 and a year later the fort’s high walls were completed. The fort was armed with three 7 in Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) guns and two 64 pounder RML guns. Its armament was similar to those at Fort Siloso on the western end of Pulau Blakang Mati, suggesting that both forts had similar roles. In 1885, the guns at Fort Connaught were replaced by two 9.2 inch Mark IV guns. They were later upgraded to the Mark X versions of the gun sometime after 1937 when the fort was rebuilt to add a third 9.2 in gun to the fort. These guns were the second largest type of guns installed in Singapore (the largest being the 15 in guns) and provided excellent deterrence against maritime threats. Adapted from: https://www.roots.gov.sg/en/places/places-landing/Places/historic-sites/fort-connaught
Exploring Fort Connaught
1330 | Pass the ventilation shaft |
1345 | Look at the director tower |
1400 | Visit the No. 3 gun emplacement |
1415 | Explore the magazine storage |
1330 | Pass the ventilation shaft
The tour bus dropped us before the gates and the guide led us up into a forest trail. Near the entrance was a square concrete piece sticking above the ground with metal grills on top. The guide explained that this was a ventilation shaft.
1345 | Look at the director tower
Not long into the forest trail, we came up to a tall building - the director tower. The tower was built on the highest point to get a good vantage point of the enemies from the sea. The guide explained that the huge holes along the wall were likely caused by Japanese air strikes coming from the sea. This attack was a decoy, so the British would send more troops to the fort, leaving the mainland more vulnerable to ground attacks. The impact must have been huge to leave such big dents in a concrete wall.
While looking for an entrance, I came up to the other side of the director tower and saw a door suspended metres high above the ground. How does anyone even get in when the door is so high up? I suppose there was a staircase going up to the door in the past that might have disintegrated overtime. On my 2nd trip there, I climbed up onto the roof to take a peek into the small room at the top (they definitely wouldn't have allowed me to do this during the tour). The room was empty but the walls looked like they were ridden with bullet holes. There must have been a fierce fight here in the past.
1400 | Visit the No. 3 gun emplacement
The next stop was the No. 3 gun emplacement that was right next to the director tower. The entrance was marked by huge concrete rubbles, leading into an open circular area. This used to house the 9.2 in gun in the fort which has since been removed. It was rumoured that the guns were built to face the sea and could not defend Singapore from enemies coming from the mainland. The guide clarified that this was untrue, as the guns could be turned inwards to defend against land attacks. However, to do so they would need to disconnect the hydraulic cables which were not long enough. This meant that the ammunition would have to be loaded manually, which was very labour intensive. Walking around the gun emplacement, we saw a hole in the ground where the ammunition used to be transported up from the underground magazine storage.
1415 | Explore the magazine storage
Nearby was a set of stairs that ran underground leading to the magazine storage. During the tour, we were allowed to go down the flight of stairs but could not enter the interior of the storage. I found it quite funny that the guides were overly cautious during the tour, constantly shouting at us to be careful, like going down a flight of stairs was the most treacherous thing lol. I guess to be fair, most of the participants looked like your everyday city dwellers who may not be used to this kind of terrains and they couldn't afford to risk any injuries. They also had an ambulance parked at the entrance by the way... Thought it was an overkill, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be more cautious?
And so, I knew I had to return a 2nd time to explore the magazine storage. The passageway into the storage was pitch black with the walls crawling with geckos. After rounding a few corners, we came into a big open area. I halted to a stop before entering as I heard bats flying around inside. I inspected the area and saw 2 side narrow passage ways that seemed to run along the perimeters of the room. They looked pretty narrow and claustrophobic so I didn't explore them. After surveying the bats for a while, I walked into the main storage area to explore the room. There was a broken divider in the middle of the room but otherwise the room looked pretty bare. On the far end was an opening that led to the gun emplacement. This was where the ammunition was transported to the gun emplacement (the same spot we saw at the gun emplacement. All this time my friend was standing at the doorway refusing to enter, until I made him stand in the centre of the room for a photo haha. After a few quick photos we went back out into the light of the day.
Not too sure if this counts as odd, but while I was uploading some videos I took from the magazine storage, I could hear the clear sound of a bell ringing on top of the 'tsk tsk' from the bats. I played back the video a couple of times and the sound was unmistakable. I definitely was not carrying any bells on me nor were there any bells in the room. I guess this will continue to remain a mystery...
My Thoughts
Although I generally do not like going for tours, I have to admit that it was still an enriching experience as the guide engaged us with interesting and insightful stories about the history of the fort and Singapore. I would definitely take more time to learn up about the history of the locations I visit in the future, as it brings another dimension to the experience of visiting not just a ruin but a place that played an important role in the past.
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