Recently, I spent a day of urban exploration at this decommissioned military fort, Mount Imbiah Battery in Sentosa. This defence post was built in the 1880s and by the First World War, Mount Imbiah Battery was emplaced with a 9.2 inch coast gun. It served as an "examination battery", to screen all merchant vessels before allowing them to enter the Singapore habour.
More on my URBEX photos + a video after the jump...
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| Trekking along the Nature Trail will bring you to this steps |
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| This steps lead up to Mount Imbiah, a peak with superb views over the Southern Islands. |
In the coastal defence of Singapore, Imbiah and Siloso batteries were organised to protect the western entrance to the harbour. The command post was at Mount Imbiah.
Mount Imbiah Battery ceased operation in the 1930s, when a new 3 x 9.2 inch gun battery was set up at Fort Connaught, on the south-eastern of the island. The gun at Mount Imbiah was removed and the site was abandoned since then.
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| At the top of the steps, this is the entrance to Mount Imbiah Battery, as seen on the left background |
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| Underground magazines where ammunitions were stored |
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| It's not too hard to find this place, which is next to Sentosa's MegaZip Adventure Park next to the watch tower on the background. MZAP can be found on the island's brochure map. |
COASTAL FORTIFICATIONS IN SINGAPORE - A BRIEF HISTORY
As early as 1819, fortification were built to protect the new trading settlement at the Singapore River. The earliest ones were small earthen batteries at the river mouth and later more forts were added.
The opening of Suez Canal in 1869 and the arrival of steam ships saw an increase in trade and the trading hub shifted from Singapore River to Keppel Harbour. The harbour with its warehouses, offices and coal stores needed to be protected.
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| 9.2 inch BL (Breech Loading) coast gun emplacement |
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| Mounting bolts are still clearly visible |
A series of coastal forts were built in the 1880s to encircle the entrances to Keppel Harbour. The islands of Pulau Blakang Mati (Sentosa) and Pulau Brani were fortified.
By 1930s, a naval base was built, north of Singapore, as defence against Japanese aggression. During the second World War, the defence of Singapore was organised into two rings of Fire Command - Faber Fire Command which protected the entrances to Keppel Harbour and Changi Fire Command which covered the entrance to the Naval base area.
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| Panoramic view of the coast gun emplacement |
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| Battery Command Post I have no idea what's the purpose of that red & white pillar stand. Seems like out of place but it's definitely a good subject for light-paintings. |
After roaming around the coast gun emplacement area, I couldn't find the bunker rooms and gun cell rooms. Eventually I found my way through a narrow passageway right next to the locked gate of the underground magazines. A video of my exploration is posted right at the end of this blog and you will be able to see it clearly.
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| Imbiah Fire Command I believe all these boxes belong to Sentosa Development Corporation. They used this cell room as storage for the stuff they could have had forgotten for a long time. Dust and cob web are all over the boxes. No idea what's inside those huge blue colored canvas bags. |
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| Officers' Cell/Shelter |
I find this room best for my night photography i.e. light-paintings. There are variable creative ways to do it and I'm pretty excited about it. So looking forward to get it all done.
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PF Cell
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Finally we have come to the end of this blog and as I mentioned earlier about the video I made during the exploration. So here it is. Thank you for reading and watching. If you want to know more future updates on my blog site, do subscribe to follow via email. Cheers!
All still images and video footages shown in this blog are made with my Apple iPhone 6 Plus on Ztylus lenses. All still images are post-processed in Adobe Photoshop. All video footages are edited and processed in iMovie.
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