Hassel Island, USVI: The Most Overlooked Stop in Charlotte Amalie Harbor
Most charter guests sail straight past Hassel Island on their way out of St. Thomas, eager to get clear of the main harbor and out into open water. That’s a shame, because Hassel Island is one of the most genuinely interesting stops in the entire USVI — a 135-acre island packed with forts, a 19th-century marine railway, and a history that spans Danish colonization, British occupation, and a working naval coaling station.
It’s also almost entirely undeveloped. About 95% of the island belongs to the Virgin Islands National Park, with a small portion held by the VI government and a handful of private properties remaining. That means what you see today is largely what’s been there for over a century — quietly decaying, genuinely fascinating, and very rarely visited.
From Peninsula to Island
Until 1860, Hassel Island wasn’t an island at all — it was a narrow peninsula attached to St. Thomas. The Danish government excavated a channel to separate it, partly in an effort to improve water circulation in Charlotte Amalie Harbor, which had become increasingly fouled. The island’s original name was Orkanhullet — “Hurricane Hole” — and its excellent careening cove was used extensively for hauling vessels ashore for repair and maintenance.
The island gets its current name from the Hassel (sometimes spelled Hazzel) family, who owned much of the land. Before them, the island passed through ten recorded owners, the first of whom purchased it in 1784. One owner, Jacob Magens, met a grim end — he, his wife, and his cook were murdered in their home in 1773, and the family’s silver collection was stolen. It’s the kind of detail that makes a quiet walking trail feel considerably less quiet.
Forts and Batteries
Hassel Island’s strategic position at the harbor entrance meant it was fortified early and often, by both the Danish and the British.
Prince Frederik’s Battery / Fort Willoughby: Perched on the southeast end of the island, this fortification began as a Danish defense against privateers — first considered in 1767, construction starting in 1777, completed by 1780. The British incorporated it into their defenses during the French Revolutionary War in 1802 and continued using it through the Napoleonic Wars, eventually renaming it Fort Willoughby. The fort still had cannons mounted as late as the 20th century, and many of those cannons remain today, repurposed as posts along the dock by the Garrison House.
Cowell’s Battery: Built in 1800 during the first British occupation of the Danish Virgin Islands, Cowell’s Battery housed two twenty-four-pound cannons mounted on trestles, positioned high on the hill. By the early 1900s, the site had been converted to a signal station, which remained operational until the 1950s.
The Creque Marine Railway
If there’s one site on Hassel Island worth making a point of seeing, it’s the Creque Marine Railway. Operational from the 1840s until the 1960s, it’s one of the earliest steam-powered marine railways in the western hemisphere — and quite possibly the oldest surviving example anywhere. The steam engine that powered it was built by the Hamburg-based Boulton Company.
What remains today is genuinely evocative: rusted machinery sitting on the shoreline, slowly being reclaimed by the island, with the harbor stretching out behind it. The site took a beating during the 2017 hurricanes, but the core structures are still there and still worth the walk.
Snorkeling just off the piers near the railway can turn up some unexpected finds — small historic artifacts occasionally surface, like this clay pipe stem found during one of our visits. It’s a reminder that Hassel Island’s history isn’t confined to the forts and ruins on land.
A Working Harbor's Other Lives
Beyond the forts and the railway, Hassel Island has worn a surprising number of hats over the centuries.
The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company operated its West Indies hub from the island starting around 1850, running through the 1870s. In 1871, the Hamburg America Line established a coaling station at Careening Cove, which the Hamburg American Line later took over. When the United States purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917, the US Navy seized the coaling station hub outright.
Perhaps strangest of all: from 1833 to 1860, Hassel Island operated a leprosarium. The last two patients were eventually transferred to Charlotte Amalie for care.
In the early 1920s, Careening Cove took on yet another role — a degaussing station, used to de-magnetize the hulls of submarines and minesweepers so they wouldn’t attract mines.
It’s a remarkable amount of history for an island most people never set foot on.
Visiting Hassel Island on Your Charter
Hassel Island makes an excellent half-day stop, particularly if your group enjoys hiking, history, or both. The Park Service has cleared a good deal of vegetation around the main sites and built a proper walking trail, so the going is straightforward even in warm weather. Bring water, decent shoes, and time — there’s more here than a quick photo stop allows for.
Careening Cove itself is worth combining with the historic walk — it’s a genuinely good spot for kayaking, snorkeling, and a swim, particularly if you want to balance the history with some time in the water.
For the full detail on every site and structure on the island, the Hassel Island Preservation Fund has done excellent work documenting the history — well beyond what we can cover here.
Ask us about including Hassel Island in your St. Thomas or USVI itinerary — it’s an easy stop to build into the first or last day of a charter, and one most guests are genuinely glad they didn’t skip.
Contact Epic Yacht Charters to start planning, or read more about USVI charter itineraries for the full range of what these islands offer.
