It was one of early Bermuda's fortifications against the Spanish, French - and, much later, the Americans. The fort dates back to 1614, when first built by Governor Richard Moore to defend Gates Bay where the colonists landed. In 1793, Captain Andrew Durnford strengthened the battery at St. Catherine's Point and built a new battery with a guardhouse on the hill behind the fort. Major Thomas Blanchard replaced the upper battery with a circular fort in the 1820s. There was a massive reconstruction from 1865 to 1878. It included 25 foot thick concrete embrasures and casemates, so that the fort could be rearmed with five rifled 18 ton muzzle loading cannons. They could send a 400 pound shell half a mile to pierce 11 inches of solid iron. It was a training ground for local forces and the British Army in the early 1900s. In World War 2, an American magnetic loop was installed at the fort.
By: AlbinoFlea


Please enable images and enter code to post