The fort at St Augustine, Florida. Castillo de San Marcos

[Cpt Kangaroo]

This fort is one of the classic shapes of the period.
What really set this fort apart, however, is the material it was made of.
The conglomerate consisting of shell and limestone, actually absorbed the impact of cannon balls without shattering the stone. It was completed in 1756, originally conceived to stem the southern advance of the British onto Spanish held territories. I have visited this site several times, it is very impressive. This fort has been used in many of the major pirate type movies, and now that I have been there, I can recognize it.

The fort is about 315ft at the corners, where the length of the HMS Victory was about 226ft with the bowsprit.

One of my souvenirs from this site was a casting of the fort in miniature. It is almost exact scale for 1/1200 and I am hoping will suit the new 1/1000 scale. I will be posting side by side pix of ship and fort for you to see.
I have also included some research on the fort for you to enjoy. Should have the pix in the next day or so.

[Cpt Kangaroo]

[Nightmoss]

Nice write up and diagram. Looking forward to seeing the photos as a comparison of scale. Besides playing the SoG game creating a diorama or two might be great fun.

[Cpt Kangaroo]

Here is a historical write up on the fort, plus the Wiki write up.

http://www.drbronsontours.com/bronsoncastillo.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_de_San_Marcos

The second link has a great exploded diagram, showing the different components of the Fort.

[Cmmdre]

Thank you Erin. This is good stuff.

[Cpt Kangaroo]

Here is a real kicker.

I went into one chamber, very low and a really small entrance. This was used as a special powder room, not sure of the significance.

But, there were shackles and apparently the room had been sealed off and was only discovered many years later.

There was a skeleton discovered of a prisoner who had been left to die when it was sealed up.

(Long since removed of course)

How bad did you have to be to not only throw away the key, but brick up the door too!

Those boys played for keeps!

I get a chill just thinking about it.

[Cpt Kangaroo]

Here is another smaller fort protecting the river entrance to St Augustine, made of the same material. Although in was small, it was quite affective as a deterrent. This was called Ft Matanzas.

[csadn]

How bad did you have to be to not only throw away the key, but brick up the door too!

There are many stories told of people who had this done to them, for various crimes, or due to various conditions.

Edgar Allan Poe knew whereof he wrote....

"For the love of God, Montresor!"
"Yes -- for the love of God...."

[Cpt Kangaroo]

Sorry about the pix quality, did it late and there was not much good light. Plus I was using the iPad camera. It's ok to get an idea.

[The Royal Hajj]

It's been decades since I was last at St. Augustine, but that model looks a bit small

[Comte de Brueys]

Nice fort, Erin.

[Nightmoss]

Thanks for the photos. Nice fort and ships!

[Cpt Kangaroo]

It's been decades since I was last at St. Augustine, but that model looks a bit small

The actual dimensions are 315ft from point to point. I was actually thinking it was too big. The Victory is 226 ft.

The actual size of the model in comparison is 3 1/4 inches. That works out to 1/1163.

In between 1/1200 and 1/1000.

By the way, I think I have tracked down the artist who made the casting. I am hoping to maybe get her interested in making some 1/1000 scale port type buildings/forts etc.

[calm]

Nice pics !!!

[Cpt Kangaroo]

There are many stories told of people who had this done to them, for various crimes, or due to various conditions.

Edgar Allan Poe knew whereof he wrote....

"For the love of God, Montresor!"
"Yes -- for the love of God...."

As I said before, things were very different in those days.... I just read this about how Ft Matanzas got its name.

On August 28, 1565, Menendez, after a brief confrontation with French forces led by Ribault, established St. Augustine. Two weeks later, Ribault, whose troops outnumbered the Spaniards, set out to attack and gain control of St. Augustine. Fortunately for the Spaniards, a hurricane struck the northeast coast of Florida, scattering Ribault's vessels down the coast. This allowed Menendez's troops to travel on foot and capture the enemy base.

Eventually, the remaining French troops surrendered. Menendez had 245 prisoners put to death on the beaches 14 miles south of St. Augustine - thus, the name Matanzas.

[Comte de Brueys]

Here is an actual picture from the fort at St. Augustin: