| Coastal Features of Blakang Mati 1884 |
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back into 1884 and see through surveyor Captain Jekyll's eyes the coastal features around the island of Blakang Mati (which was renamed Sentosa in 1972). 1) Map showing Renggis, a rocky shoal where corals still thrive today. Renggis is west of the present Cable Car Tower which used to be an islet named Pulau Selegu or Sarong Island [before reclamation]. |
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3) Map showing the winding Siloso Road (the oldest trunk road in Sentosa) cutting across the northern slope of Mount Imbiah from the old Hospital Road (located in the middle of the island) to Fort Siloso. While most of Mount Imbiah has sinced been disturbed by development (especially at its southern slope and summit), few will realise how pristine the northern foot of the hill has remained till today. It is located between Siloso Road and the now-defunct Asian Village. Though the magnificent stature, density and diversity of the coastal trees here is without comparison anywhere else on Mt Imbiah today, yet it is currently threatened by IR Development.
4) Map showing Berlayar, a name derived from 'layar' meaning sails in Malay. In all likelihood, the vernacular name referred to the sail-shaped rocks found in the sea off Labrador and Blakang Mati. There must have been so many of them that early 13th century Chinese mariners called the pirate-infested sea here Lung-Ya-Men, meaning Dragon Teeth Gate. The Gate referred to the entrance of the harbour at Chermin Bay (now Keppel Harbour) where once stood Lot's Wife, the infamous rock named and later blown-up by the British Fleet. One such tooth-like layar-rock still exist to be admired beneath the southern cliff of Siloso. However, in the unforseeable future, it might just slipped quietly but gallantly into geological history like the rest through weathering processes hammering our coasts everyday. Lest of course, Man decides to blow up and buried another piece of natural wonder to create his own twisted utopia.