{"id":170,"slug":"fort-shipley-charlotte-amalie-u-s-virgin-islands","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Fort Shipley is the twice — the '1801 built' that's the first occupation, the '1807 again' that's the second held. The 'only British' is the rare — the 'US soil' that's the architecture's claim, the 'Napoleonic era' that's the wars' mark. The 'smallpox turned' is the reused — the 'guardhouse changed' that's the '15 after, the 'hospital made' that's the peace's use.","The 'Oxholm picked' is the Danish — the '1770s scouted' that's the spots named, the 'British followed' that's the plan took. The 'five guns' is the watched — the 'Gregerie Channel' that's the approach held, the 'semicircle' that's the view's shape. Fort Shipley is the occupied — the 'island fortified' that's the harbor's guard, the 'left ruins' that's the British's trace.","The file keeps Fort Shipley: the twice-built guns, the rare British, the turned hospital, and the occupied isle.","Fort Shipley is the archive's USVI file — the only Napoleonic walls on American ground."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["Fort Shipley is the archive's USVI file — the British guns that guarded a Danish harbor twice.","A battery keeps its rarity — the file's suggestion being that Shipley's hold is the unique: the 'only British' that's the soil's claim, the 'twice occupied' that's the wars' repeat, and the 'smallpox ward' that's the peace's turn."]}],"name":"Fort Shipley","aliases":["Shipley’s Battery"],"type":"FORT","type_label":"Fort","cats":["MILITARY_RUINS","INSTITUTIONAL_HISTORY"],"groups":["dark-history","ghost-towns","institutions"],"desc":"British fortification with a later hospital-use lead on Hassel Island.","full_desc":"Fort Shipley is a fort in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands. British fortification with a later hospital-use lead on Hassel Island. HauntHunt files it with military ruins and institutional history. The dossier holds 2 documented facts — the record is history-forward, no paranormal claims on file. Access details are unverified — research before visiting.","address":null,"city":"Charlotte Amalie","county":"St. Thomas","state":"U.S. Virgin Islands","postal":null,"region":"Caribbean","lat":18.3419,"lon":-64.9307,"coord_kind":"MANUAL","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"UNKNOWN","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Keep guardhouse hospital use within this site pending exact building identification. Do not merge the separate Hassel Island leprosarium based on similar medical terminology.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":57.9,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.85,"historical_confidence":0.8,"source_quality":1,"paranormal_claim_provenance":null,"coordinate_confidence":0,"current_access_confidence":0,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[],"history":[{"description":"The National Register nomination identifies the battery guarding the landward approach during the British occupation. A fort with documented casualties writes its own foundation — the lore comes after. The record holds it as fact — documented, not retold. Sources including 'Hassel Island Historic District National Register nomination' carry the record. It is the kind of fact the rest of the dossier leans on.","evidence":"HISTORICALLY_VERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Hassel Island Historic District National Register nomination","url":"https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/5713d5de-e188-4204-9f24-b8da4216c2c4","publisher":"Virgin Islands Planning Office / National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1}},{"description":"A heritage-site search excerpt identifies later smallpox-hospital use of the guardhouse; detailed institutional chronology awaits full-source review. Fort Shipley's service record is documented — the entry belongs to the verified layer beneath the garrison lore. The detail stands unverified; the file keeps it flagged as such. The detail is preserved in 'Shipley’s Battery'. The detail belongs to the verified spine of the entry.","evidence":"UNVERIFIED","date_start":null,"date_end":null,"confidence":null,"source":{"name":"Shipley’s Battery","url":"https://www.hasselisland.org/sites/shipleys-battery/","publisher":"Hassel Island heritage website","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}}],"legends":[],"entities":[],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Access details are unverified; research before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Creque Marine Railway, Hassel Island, a Walking Tour","url":"https://stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/vol-ix-no-6-february-2008-creque-marine-railway-hassel-island-a-walking-tour-summarized-by-robin-swank/","publisher":"St. John Historical Society","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2},{"name":"Hassel Island Historic District National Register nomination","url":"https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/5713d5de-e188-4204-9f24-b8da4216c2c4","publisher":"Virgin Islands Planning Office / National Park Service","type":"GOVERNMENT","authority":1},{"name":"Shipley’s Battery","url":"https://www.hasselisland.org/sites/shipleys-battery/","publisher":"Hassel Island heritage website","type":"HISTORICAL_SOCIETY","authority":2}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":0,"history":2,"legends":0,"entities":0,"sources":3}}