Willingdon Island is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala. Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Lake of Kochi, filling in dredged soil around a previously existing, but tiny, natural island. Willingdon Island is significant as the home for the Port of Kochi as well as the Kochi Naval Base, the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, Plant Quarantine station, Custom House Cochin and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The island is also home for other establishments associated with the port, namely, the Office of the Cochin Port Trust (that controls the Port of Kochi), the Customs Office, the Mercantile Marine Department and more than two dozen export-import offices, warehouses, a few hotels and business centers. The Cochin Port Maritime Heritage Museum is located in the island. History Conception The idea of developing a new port in Kochi was first felt by Sir Robert Bristow, who was appointed by Lord Willingdon, then-the Governor of Madras Presidency, to create a new modern port on the West coast of India at Kochi. Construction The island was created during the construction of the modern port in 1936, with the soil dredged out while deepening the Vembanad Lake to accommodate the new port. It was named after The 1st Earl of Willingdon, the Viceroy of India at the time, who commissioned the project. Robert Bristow, the chief protagonist and engineer for the project, owned the first building on the island. The first liner, which belonged to the Bibby Line, arrived on the island on 9 March 1935. A port hostel, called Malabar Hotel, was built for passengers who wished to rest on the island. All the pre-planned basic port structure was completed in 1939, just in time for the Second World War. A deep wharf, a rail bridge, and a road bridge to the mainland provided valuable infrastructure for the local war effort. A naval works was also constructed on the adjacent Venduruthy Island to the south, where, by the end of the war, they were busily constructing landing craft for the presumed invasion of Japan. In 1940 a passenger jetty and customs house were built adjoining the hotel, together with a passenger platform and rail siding. British military use The Royal Air Force quickly found a use