Fall Of Singapore

8 Pages 2050 Words

udes establishing a fort south of the Singapore river mouth, another at Tanjong Katong and three other in between. He also envisioned a hilltop citadel as a fortified post. His main concerns were sea defence, and landward attacks were considered remote then due to the protective barrier formed by the thick Malayan jungles. This neglect of landward defence was to lay down part of the foundation for the fall of Singapore. Disappointingly, the only physical result of Lake’s plans was Fort Fullerton. The rest of his plans were put aside, and eventually reported lost in 1843. It shows how little his plans were valued. Other similar defence schemes were also contemplated in succeeding years, but they too suffered a similar fate. Finally in 1843, Col. William John Butterworth was appointed as Governor. He was the first military man since Farquhar to be Governor and he took an active part in defence. He had Captain Samuel Best of the Madras Engineers draw up a defence scheme for Singapore, however no physical results emerge from this proposal either. In May 1845, Maj.-Gen Pollock, Commander of HEIC troops expressed concern over Singapore desperate lack of defence, however with the absence of a great external threat then, there was a lack of urgency in building defences. Finally in 1855, three batteries were built at Fort Fullerton, Mount Palmer and Mount Faber. Defence of the northeast end of the harbour was left in the hands of sea defence, thus re-emphasizing the desirability of dependence on sea power. The Sepoy mutiny of May 1857 did help to increase the urgency to introduce defence in Singapore, and Captain Collyer of the Mad...