This is the seventh in a series of occasional articles on the shared histories of Bermuda and the United States, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence this year. The articles, by Heritage Matters author Edward Cecil Harris, will run throughout the year.

In this article we move ahead a couple of centuries from the incipient settlement of Bermuda by the Sea Venture, so that a recent event in England can be reported to you, the present denizens of the island. That happening relates to the role of the Royal Navy in the Americas as a diplomatic arm of the British Government.

Bermuda rose to strategic prominence upon the independence of the United States of America 250 years ago this anniversary year, for its geographic position central to the Eastern Seaboard dictated that it would become, militarily, the “Gibraltar of the West”.

Admirals on the North America and West Indies Station, headquartered in Bermuda, often made cruises of the eastern Americas to “fly the flag” for Britain. One such “diplomat” was Admiral Sir Edward Gennys Fanshawe, who lived at Admiralty House, Pembroke, with Lady Fanshawe, a son and only daughter, Alice.

Edward and his daughter were accomplished watercolourists and a new book, The Fanshawe Legacy, on their artwork was launched on June 5 at the Valence House Museum, almost a family museum and archive, in Dagenham, England. Some of their paintings reflect the places they visited with the Royal Navy fleet from Bermuda a few years after the American Civil War.

At the launch, James Fanshawe spoke on his Royal Naval career as a recent member of the family to follow the sea, but in submarines. Pieter van der Merwe, former general editor at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, spoke of the value of museums as holders of 3D archives and of the benefits of digitisation, including free dissemination of his study of an Admiral Fanshawe art collection at the Museum.

Harry Rycroft, a Fanshawe descendant, with his son Theo, then related: “About 12 years ago a gentleman phoned me to say that he was in Edinburgh and would like to see me: that was Edward Harris. I invited him to my house in East Lothian and fortunately, I had a couple of spare meat pies in the freezer and was able to give him a rudimentary meal.

“The reason for Edward's visit became clear while we ate: Nigel Wenban Smith, husband of Ambassador Charlotte Rycroft, my late sister, had met by chance Margaret Fergusson, wife of the then Governor of Bermuda, George Fergusson.

“Nigel told Margaret that I owned an album of Alice Fanshawe's Bermuda paintings. During subsequent meetings with Edward we unearthed, in my house, other paintings and letters relating to General Edward Fanshawe and his descendants. During a memorable visit, staying with Edward, I donated Alice’s album to Bermuda, resulting in the lovely book we have before us today at Valence House.”

George Fergusson, the former governor, opened his remarks with a tribute to the late Premier of Bermuda, Sir John Swan. He then mentioned “the happy occasion of Dr Harry Rycroft coming to Bermuda and presenting an album of Fanshawe watercolours from the early 1870s to the National Museum via Government House. An enormous amount of work, imagination and energy has happened since that occasion and has included the uncovering of an intricate family story which encompasses almost the whole world but has a regular re-connection back to Bermuda.

“Bermuda has an extraordinary tendency to do this. I have an old map of the Atlantic which shows straight lines radiating out from Bermuda in every direction. It usefully highlights the semicircle of which Bermuda is the centre, half way between Halifax, Nova Scotia and the West Indies.

“But it also looks a wee bit like Bermuda being the centre of a web, illustrating the capacity of the Island to be the point of connection between different worlds, which it has been for 400 years.

“This book has two authors and at least eight potential ‘launchers’ today, probably more. But Edward and Ian, noting my purely ceremonial receipt of the Alice Fanshawe album in Bermuda in 2015 from Harry Rycroft, asked me to reprise my role, kind of, by formally launching the book today. Congratulations to everyone involved in this magnificent production. And I hereby declare it launched.”

The authors, Ian Robertson and Edward Harris, ended with thanks to Leeanne Westwood, director of the Valence House Museum, and her staff and team of “Fanshawe Volunteers”, for hosting the event. In conclusion, they presented a late 1800s portrait of one John Faithful Fanshawe to the Valence House Museum for posterity.

• Dr Edward Harris is the founding executive director emeritus of the National Museum of Bermuda