 Nearly 4,000,000 (four million) "tons" of stone were quarried and transported, using about a dozen ships innovatively designed by the two men.Construction started on 8 August 1812; it was sufficiently completed by 1814 to shelter ships of the line, although work continued for over 50 years.Napoleon was reported as commenting that it was a grand thing, as he passed by it on the way to exile on St. Helena in 1815.