Continued from yesterday”¦ When the British first arrived in the Andamans, they put the prison on Viper Island, established personnel housing on Ross Island, and put the hospital on Chatham Island in the middle of the two. The islands can all be seen from one another. Ross eventually had a population of 500 and was a very nice town with many amenities. There was a large Anglican church, a bakery, general store, post office, water making plant, tennis courts, swimming pools, library, flour making plant, and more. It was once considered to be the Paris of east. Shortly before World War II, there was an earthquake that scared some of the people off Ross. When the Japanese captured the islands, they lived in the housing on Ross and built bunkers using materials taken from the existing buildings. After WWII, the British never went back to Ross and instead moved across the way to Port Blair. Anything salvageable from the buildings on Ross was reused in Port Blair and the shells of the buildings were left to deteriorate. The British also built a new jail in Port Blair. The tsunami in 2004 did even further damage to the already partly destroyed buildings on the windward side of the island.
At first glance, the area near the ferry terminal looks like a park, with scattered brick red buildings and lots of neatly maintained grass. On closer inspection, though, you realize there are a lot of decrepit old buildings set farther back in and amongst the cheerful red buildings. It looks like a few selected buildings have been restored, but most are in the process of being reclaimed by mother nature. We walked down the neatly landscaped dirt path towards the ruins. There was a small herd of deer just hanging out on the grass. They stared at us as we passed. How cool!
We were kind of amazed by the Continue reading
