This Spanish Fort “Eats Cannonballs”

1702. The Spanish still ruled on Florida. A fleet from the English colonial forces of Carolina Governor James Moore approached the Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish stronghold on the Atlantic shore.

The fort was an essential piece of territory for the Spanish, as it guarded the empire’s trade routes as well as the city of St. Augustine, the capital city of Spanish Florida at that time. For the English, this fort would serve as an important political and economical outpost. And thus the forces led by Moore dropped their anchors and the siege began.

But even after nearly two months of being shelled with cannonballs and gunfire, the fort’s walls wouldn’t give. In fact, they appeared to be “swallowing” the British cannonballs, which then became embedded within the stone. Precisely how the walls did this remained a mystery for the next three centuries.

What were the walls made of?

Find out on Atlas Obscura.

(Image Credit: National Park Service/ Wikimedia Commons)


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