Defenses no longer in existence

Despite the fact that Cartagena conserves a large portion of the group of military fortifications constructed during the colonial era, some of these defenses did not survive. While some became obsolete, others were destroyed by enemy attacks that did not […]

Despite the fact that Cartagena conserves a large portion of the group of military fortifications constructed during the colonial era, some of these defenses did not survive. While some became obsolete, others were destroyed by enemy attacks that did not leave traces of what at the time were outstanding works of engineering.

Among the defenses that have not survived are El Boquerón (1566), which was erected on the island of Manga, the Batteries of Santángel (1617), in Bocagrande; the Battery of San Matías (1567), where today El Laguito exists; and the Fort of San Luis (1646), in Bocachica.

The Fort of El Boquerón

The fort of El Boqerón, built in 1566, was the first defensive construction in Cartagena Bay. Located on the island of Manga, where today the fort of San Sebastián del Pastellilo stands, it controlled access to the internal port. The governor Antón Dávalos de Luna ordered its construction, with the local inhabitants Bartolomé Sánchez and Diego Polo in charge of erecting the fort that was a terraced tower of 10 or 12 feet in height, a plan of a marked medieval character.

When its construction was finished in 1568, El Boquerón closed off the entrance to the port every night with a chain. It carried out its defensive function until 1743, when the viceroy, Sebastián de Eslava, aware of the strategic importance of its location, ordered the engineer Juan Bautista Mac Evan to construct a new fort to substitute El Boquerón, San Sebastián del Pastellilo.

Fort of San Matías

San Matías, the second fort on the bay, was constructed under orders from the governor Pedro de Acuña in 1567 in Punta Icacos, in the southwestern part of the current El Laguito. At the end of the XVI century the fort was in a state of ruin because of storms and, although it was rebuilt in 1602 under the initiative of the governor Jerónimo de Zuazo, San Matías would lose importance in favor of the Santa Cruz fort, situated in Punta Judío.

A Royal Decree of 1626 ordered the dismantling of San Matías, which would be accomplished two years later. The remains of the fort disappeared completely at the end of the XVIII century, when the Bocagrande walkway bordering the beach was constructed, submerging it below the waters of the bay.

Santángel de Bocagrande

The bay had, at one time, its main point of access in the Bocagrande passage and, for this reason, was one of the first sites in the history of Cartagena to be fortified. On the Island of Tierrabomba there was a fort that complemented the defensive action of the fort located in El Laguito, the Santángel.

Since the end of the XVI century, the defense of Bocagrande depended upon the fort of San Matías, located in Punta Icacos, today the most western part of El Laguito. Upon considering this fort insufficient, the governor Jerónimo de Zuazo planned, in 1602, to reinforce the entrance to the bay with a new fort located on the island of Tierrabomba, the future Santángel.

A primitive fort was constructed which, in 1617, the governor Diego de Acuña wanted to enlarge following a design of Cristóbal de Roda, adding a walled area on a base of an irregular five-pointed star, a storehouse, a cistern and barracks for the troops. The change in the bay’s defensive strategy, centered on protection from its interior, would terminate with the dismantling of the Santángel platform authorized by a Royal Decree of 1626. No trace has survived to our time and we only know of the plan from its reference in historic documents.

San Luis de Bocachica

San Luis was the first fort of Bocachica, designed by the engineer Juan de Somovilla in 1646. Its construction would extend until 1661 because of a lack of funds, with the military engineer Juan Bautista Antonelli being responsible for its construction from 1646 until his death in 1649.

The castle had a square base with four bulwarks of regular angles, a moat with a covered walkway, a stationery bridge, two cisterns, an arms yard, an escape door facing west and the main entrance on the eastern side.

Unfortunately, the inauspicious history of Cartagena de Indias has not permitted the conservation of San Luis today. In 1697 it was defeated and partially ruined by Baron De Pointis, requiring its restoration between 1719 and 1728 by Juan de Herrera y Sotomayor. It fared even worse during Vernon’s attack, being completely destroyed in 1741. It would not be reconstructed, preferring in its place the magnificent San Fernando de Bocachica, which we conserve today.