Located in the estuary of the Sierra Leone River, 17 miles northeast of Freetown, Bunce Island is considered the most important historic site in Sierra Leone. However, its significance in the history of the transatlantic slave trade remains relatively unknown outside academic circles. The site primarily consists of ruins from the sixth and final slave castle built on the island in 1796 by the English slave trading company Grant, Oswald and Sargeant. Other notable features include an ancient well, a cemetery, two kilns, and shell mounds used to produce lime mortar for construction. Although designated a national monument since 1948 and legally protected, limited resources have delayed comprehensive preservation efforts. A recently restored guardhouse is open during the day, and the visitor’s book indicates approximately 1,200 visitors per year arrive by chartered boats. However, the lack of adequate visitor facilities (toilets, rest areas, signage, or interpretation) impedes their full experience and understanding of the site's history and hinders its preservation.
Over its two-hundred-year history, Bunce Island's fortifications were destroyed and rebuilt six times, yet nature is now achieving what cannons could not. Since its abandonment in 1840, the island has remained deserted, with no preservation work conducted on the remaining structures until 2011. At that time, a comprehensive structural assessment and initial interventions to support the walls were undertaken by a team of engineers.
Mel Garber became involved in this project in 2006 after being introduced to Joseph Opala, an anthropologist who had worked in Sierra Leone as a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 1970s and had subsequently discovered Bunce Island. Upon learning that Garber was a structural engineer working for a firm renowned for structural preservation, Opala convinced Gedeon GRC’s Director of Building to participate in the preservation efforts. As Garber learned more about the history of Bunce Island, particularly its relationship to the United States, he felt a professional and personal duty to continue preservation efforts.
During the team's recent visit, they found that several structures from the 2011 intervention had either been removed or significantly damaged. The primary threat to the structural stability of the ruins is vegetation growth, especially large trees and plants growing on top of the structures. Their branches and roots cause cracks, mortar loss, masonry displacement, and water penetration, leading to structural instability and potential wall collapses.
Sierra Leone experiences one of the highest levels of precipitation in Africa, and most structures on Bunce Island lack roofs, exposing them to tropical rains. Wall cappings, repointing, and nonstructural crack repairs are urgently needed to prevent moisture from reaching the core of the walls.
Gedeon GRC deployed a drone for a comprehensive survey of all the ruins during the two-day expedition. The UAV enabled the recording of critical situations in otherwise dangerous locations.
The Path Ahead
Over the past decade, various organizations and associations have rallied to build support for preserving this significant historical site. In 2012, Bunce Island was included in Sierra Leone’s Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites by the Monuments and Relics Commission (MRC). Established in 1947 and reconstituted in 2014, the MRC is part of Sierra Leone's Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. In October 2015, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced its 2016 World Monuments Watch biannual list of threatened sites, which included Bunce Island. Subsequently, WMF launched an advocacy and fundraising campaign to preserve the site. According to Mel Garber, the most pressing steps for preserving Bunce Island include “conducting a comprehensive assessment of the vegetation threat, constructing a jetty to facilitate future interventions, and studying the impact of erosion on the island by the estuary and rainfall.”
As part of its corporate social responsibility program, Gedeon GRC will continue to support the project, providing engineering expertise and resources. Rupture Marketing has also partnered with Gedeon GRC, producing videos and media to promote efforts to save this crucial piece of history.
