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CastillodSM3
The European city of St. Augustine was founded by admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés for the Spanish Crown in 1565 on a site of a former Native American village. Over the next one hundred years, the Spanish built nine wooden forts for the defense of the town in various locations. Following the 1668 attack of the English pirate Robert Searle, Mariana Queen Regent of Spain, approved the construction of a masonry fortification to protect the city.
The Castillo is a masonry star fort made of a stone called coquina, Spanish for "little shells", made of ancient shells that have bonded together to form a type of stone similar to limestone. Workers were brought in from Havana, Cuba, to construct the fort in addition to Native American laborers. The coquina was quarried from Anastasia Island in what is today Anastasia State Park across Matanzas Bay from the Castillo, and ferried across to the construction site. Construction began on October 2, 1672 and lasted twenty-three years, being completed in 1695.
In 1670, Charles Town (modern-day Charleston, South Carolina) was founded by the British. As it was just two days sail from St. Augustine, the British settlement spurred the Spanish in their construction of a fort. In November 1702, English forces under orders from Governor James Moore of Charles Town, set sail from Carolina in an attempt to capture the city. This was one of the events of Queen Anne's War.
The English laid siege to St. Augustine. All of the city's residents, some 1,200 people, along with the fort's 300 soldiers remained protected inside the wall of the fort for the next two months during the siege.
View of Castillo de San Marcos courtyard
The English cannon had little effect on the walls of the fort. The coquina was very effective at absorbing the impact of the shells, allowing little damage to the walls. The siege was broken when the Spanish fleet from Havana, Cuba arrived, trapping the English forces in the bay. The English burned their ships to prevent their falling into Spanish control, and marched overland back to Carolina. As they withdrew, they set fire to St. Augustine, burning much of it to the ground.
Beginning in 1738, under the supervision of Spanish engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano, the interior of the fort was redesigned and rebuilt. Interior rooms were made deeper, and vaulted ceilings replaced the original wooden ones. The vaulted ceilings allowed for better protection from bombardments and allowed for cannon to be placed along the gun deck, not just at the corner bastions. The new ceilings required the height of the exterior wall to be increased from 26 to 33 feet.
Image was captured by a camera suspended by a kite line Kite Aerial Photography (KAP)
CastillodSM3
The European city of St. Augustine was founded by admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés for the Spanish Crown in 1565 on a site of a former Native American village. Over the next one hundred years, the Spanish built nine wooden forts for the defense of the town in various locations. Following the 1668 attack of the English pirate Robert Searle, Mariana Queen Regent of Spain, approved the construction of a masonry fortification to protect the city.
The Castillo is a masonry star fort made of a stone called coquina, Spanish for "little shells", made of ancient shells that have bonded together to form a type of stone similar to limestone. Workers were brought in from Havana, Cuba, to construct the fort in addition to Native American laborers. The coquina was quarried from Anastasia Island in what is today Anastasia State Park across Matanzas Bay from the Castillo, and ferried across to the construction site. Construction began on October 2, 1672 and lasted twenty-three years, being completed in 1695.
In 1670, Charles Town (modern-day Charleston, South Carolina) was founded by the British. As it was just two days sail from St. Augustine, the British settlement spurred the Spanish in their construction of a fort. In November 1702, English forces under orders from Governor James Moore of Charles Town, set sail from Carolina in an attempt to capture the city. This was one of the events of Queen Anne's War.
The English laid siege to St. Augustine. All of the city's residents, some 1,200 people, along with the fort's 300 soldiers remained protected inside the wall of the fort for the next two months during the siege.
View of Castillo de San Marcos courtyard
The English cannon had little effect on the walls of the fort. The coquina was very effective at absorbing the impact of the shells, allowing little damage to the walls. The siege was broken when the Spanish fleet from Havana, Cuba arrived, trapping the English forces in the bay. The English burned their ships to prevent their falling into Spanish control, and marched overland back to Carolina. As they withdrew, they set fire to St. Augustine, burning much of it to the ground.
Beginning in 1738, under the supervision of Spanish engineer Pedro Ruiz de Olano, the interior of the fort was redesigned and rebuilt. Interior rooms were made deeper, and vaulted ceilings replaced the original wooden ones. The vaulted ceilings allowed for better protection from bombardments and allowed for cannon to be placed along the gun deck, not just at the corner bastions. The new ceilings required the height of the exterior wall to be increased from 26 to 33 feet.
Image was captured by a camera suspended by a kite line Kite Aerial Photography (KAP)