Ross Island (Andaman) - Penal Settlement

Penal Settlement

In November 1857, the Government decided to establish a penal settlement in Andaman and send "hard-core elements" among those who took on the British. There were two reasons: One, to keep them away from other prisoners and the other, to send out a message that a similar treatment would be meted out to anyone who challenged the British authority.

Two months later, the British took possession of three islands in and around Port Blair and Captain H. Man, Executive Engineer, hoisted the Union Jack flag. In March, J.P. Walker, an experienced jail superintendent, arrived in Port Blair with four European officials, an Indian overseer, two doctors, 50 naval guards and 773 freedom fighters.

Writer Gauri Shankar Pandey, who belongs to a family that had suffered torture during the Japanese occupation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has documented that it was water scarcity that had driven Walker out of Port Blair and go to Ross Island.

Named after the marine surveyor Sir Daniel Ross, the Island soon became the base. Initially, crude barracks of bamboo and grass were put up for freedom fighters while the rest of the party stayed on board the ships that had brought them. Later, the freedom fighters built houses, offices, barracks and other structures at the Ross Island, after which they were promptly sent to Viper Island, where the first jail was built. The bungalow, meant for the chief of the Penal Settlement, was constructed at the northern summit of the Island. Called Government House, the large-gabled home had Italian tiled flooring on the ground level. Now, some remains of the flooring are there, of course in a decrepit condition.

In 1872, the post of Superintendent was elevated to the level of Chief Commissioner and Sir Donald Martin Stewart, who was at Ross Island for one year, was made the first Chief Commissioner. Stewart held the post from July 1872 to June 1875.

After Stewart, Ross Island saw 24 chief commissioners. But, it was during the tenure of Sir Charles Francis Waterfall that the Island's position as the seat of power collapsed.

Waterfall, who became the Chief Commissioner in 1938, was captured by the Japanese in March 1942 when the latter invaded the Andaman and Nicobar Islands during World War II. He was held as a prisoner of war and his deputy, Major Bird, was beheaded by the Japanese at a clock tower in Aberdeen, Port Blair.