Home > Photos > Military > Castillo de San Marcos	Site Map

Gallery: Castillo de San Marcos, Exterior

Click on a thumbnail photo to view the full picture.

	View of the San Pedro (St. Peter) Bastion and surrounding moat. The moat was normally kept dry. When the fort was under siege, domestic animals were kept in the moat. In the event of a land attack, the moat could be flooded with seawater.
	Distant view of the San Pedro (St. Peter) Bastion at the Castillo de San Marcos. The Castillo boasted four bastions. The bastions were filled with rubble and sand. Cannon were mounted on the top in such a way that anyone approaching the fort would be caught in the crossfire of two adjacent bastions.
	San Pedro (St. Peter) Bastion and a part of the Ravelin as seen from the sea approach. The Ravelin was constructed to protect the fort's entrance and citizens entering the fort during an attack.
	View of San Augustin (St. Augustine) Bastion with the San Carlos Bastion in the background.
	The San Carlos (St. Charles) Bastion included a bell tower from which warnings of enemy sightings were peeled.
	San Pedro (St. Peter) Bastion and a part of the Ravelin in the foreground at right.
	The moat surrounding the Castillo de San Marcos was usually kept dry.
	View of the San Pedro (St. Peter) Bastion as seen from the Ravelin.
	Ferns growing on the walls of the fort.
	Section of the wall between two bastions.
	The outer walls of the Castillo were constructed of coquina.
	The San Augustin Bastion faces the sea.
	The bastions of the Castillo were designed so that an enemy approaching the fort would be caught in a deadly crossfire from two bastions.
	At the corner of the San Augustin Bastion is one of the Castillo's three Garitas (sentry boxes).
	A Garita (sentry box) was located at the corner of three of the fort's four bastions.
	Detail view of a Garita (sentry box).
	Detail view of the bell tower on the San Carlos (St. Charles) Bastion. The tower was used to give the alarm in event of enemy sighting.
	The Castillo was constructed of coquina, a sedimentary rock.
	The Cubo Line was part of a earth and palm log wall constructed around St. Augustine following the British siege of 1702. The wall was surrounded by a shallow moat.
	The Cubo Line was part of a earth and palm log wall constructed around St. Augustine following the British siege of 1702. The Cubo Line connected with the Covered Way surrounding the fort affording citizens of St. Augustine a protected approach to the fort's entrance.
	During 1842-44, the U.S. Army filled in the east side of the moat and mounted artillery pieces along the seawall. The shot furnace was constructed to heat cannonballs red hot before they were fired at an enemy's wooden ships
	Detail of shot furnace.
	The shot furnace was constructed during the 1842-44 renovations by the U.S. Army. Cannonballs were heated red hot and then fired at wooden ships to set them ablaze.
	The main drawbridge connected the Ravelin with the only entrance to the Castillo. This drawbridge was only raised during attacks. This is a reconstruction of the original.
	The Ravelin drawbridge was raised every night at sunset.
	This view of the top of the Ravelin drawbridge shows the counterweight on the left. This is a reconstruction of the original.
	The Ravelin drawbridge was raised every night at sunset.
	The main drawbridge connected the Ravelin with the only entrance to the Castillo. This drawbridge was only raised during attacks. It took about fifteen minutes to either raise or lower the main drawbridge. This is a reconstruction of the original.

 

 

Exploring Florida: A Social Studies Resource for Students and Teachers
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 2002.