The last time we visited Castillo de San Marcos one of the highlights of the experience for me was watching the cannon firing demonstration.
Historic demonstrations are always interesting, and especially when gunpowder is involved. The events happen quite regularly at the Castillo and both times I've seen it quite a crowd is present--apparently I'm not the only one that enjoys it.
We first thought that the demonstration would be after the time we planned to be gone, but then I discovered that this was in error and we would have time to watch. Therefore while Amy stayed on ground level with the baby I took the girls up the stairs to find a good place to watch, though in the meantime we explored the ramparts.
The view is fantastic from atop the battlements.
This is the St. Charles Bastion and was the location where sentries were posted to watch the bay. According to the exhibit signage in 1740 a sentry rang the bell "whenever he saw a puff of smoke from enemy cannon across the bay. It was the signal for prayer. Only two men in the fort were killed during the 27-day bombardment."
These cannons are the ones fired during the demonstrations--if you look carefully you can see the ends of the barrels are covered to keep them dry.
This was the northern defense line that the Spanish built after the English attack on St. Augustine in 1702. The other sides of the fort were then protected by water and marsh (see more).
The sign explains that this bastion was found to be three feet too low by a new engineer inspecting the construction in 1682, but thankfully the error was corrected over the next few years. The entire construction period lasted from 1672 through 1696.
Here you can see more of the reconstructed outer defenses--as well as a couple costumed interpreters walking towards the Castillo.
There really is quite a bit of area inside the fort, all nicely visible from atop the walls.
The staircase is quite large and able to accommodate quite a few people coming up or down if you're only considering modern visitors. I can only imagine what it would be like during a siege (see below).
The girls enjoyed looking over the walls at the areas that were low enough for them to see over.
This is St. Peter's Bastion. "During Queen Anne's War (1702) English siege trenches came 'within a pistol shot' of this point. English ships blockaded the harbor and 500 soldiers and Indians took the town. The Castillo offered the only safety, so 200 Spanish soldiers and 1300 civilians crowded into its protective walls. On Christmas the English were reinforced, but when Spanish ships from [Havana] arrived the next day, the English burned the town and marched back to Charleston."
~from exhibit signage
If you haven't noticed already there are quite a number of cannons sprinkled throughout the Castillo. The park's website includes a document listing all of the guns and their provenance.
Waiting for the artillery demonstration to begin.
The costumed interpreter on the far left was the one who led the drill, but first the uniformed ranger gave an explanation of the process. I captured the below videos on one phone while taking photographs with my other device. While the resolution is high I couldn't always hold it perfectly steady and occasionally one of the girls jostled my arms.
After the instructions the actual demonstration began--all conducted in old Spanish of course.
By taking a burst of shots from my phone I was able to grab this process of the firing showing the flames shooting out.
After the artillery demonstration it was definitely time to leave, so we headed to the car to fix lunch and drive south.
Of course I head to check out the sea-side of the fort and there I found even more cannon! According to the sign these date from when the Americans took control of the Castillo and renamed it Fort Marion (after the Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" from the Revolution). They filled in a portion of the moat and installed "modern" artillery.
I couldn't resist a few parting shots of the Castillo.
It was only our second visit to the city and the fort, but I certainly hope it won't be our last.
All of the pictures in these two blog posts (and many more) can be found in this album.
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