CASTLES

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

Fort Charles 

Location

Fort Charles is located in the small town of Port Royal in Jamaica. The town was founded on a natural harbor in which Fort Charles stands at the entrance to. According to Donny L. Hamilton, the fort was situated at the tip of the sand spit separating the Kingston Harbor for the Caribbean.[2] The fort is almost completely surrounded by water.

History

In 1654, Jamaica was under Spanish control and Spain was at war with England. Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sent an expedition to invade the Spanish island Hispaniola. When the expedition failed, its leaders did not want to return home in shame. They turned their attention to capturing Jamaica, which was poorly defended. 

The buccaneer Henry Morgan was a member of the invading force led by Penn and Venables. By May 1655, the English gained control of the island, and began construction of Fort Cromwell to defend their new acquisition. Fort Charles was built in 1655 and was originally called "Fort Cromwell" but subsequently renamed.

By 1667 it had 36 guns while in 1765 it had 104 guns and a garrison of 500 men. It was damaged by both the 1692 Jamaica earthquake and the 1907 Kingston earthquake, which later resulted in the tilting of the Giddy House, now a minor tourist attraction.

Fort Charles was built in the shape of a ship. According to Don Philpott, the fort is very well preserved with its rows of semi-circular gun ports. Inside of every other row on the outer wall of the fort are cannons lined adjacently. According to Amitabh Sharma, “The red-bricked asymmetrical fortification once stood guard, warding off intruders and intimidating them with a battery of high caliber guns that were strategically mounted in the periphery” 

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking