Historical background

Francisco Fornals - Corresponding Member of the Royal Spanish Academy of History

The military importance of Mahón harbour has been obvious for centuries, especially since the Sixteenth Century, in which political conditions converted the harbour into a port of call for the Spanish Crown’s connections with its Italian possessions. Later, during the British dominion of Minorca, it became the English fleet’s Mediterranean support harbour, and lastly, in the Nineteenth Century, it was the crossroads of the French shipping route between Toulon and Algiers and the English shipping route in the Mediterranean between Gibraltar and Malta.

The harbour’s dimensions, its depth and protection from the dominant winds in the western Mediterranean, made it one of the best ports in this area; according to the well known phrase made by Genovese Admiral Andrea Doria: “July, August and Port Mahón, the best harbours are in the Mediterranean”. This was especially so, in an age when navigation of the seven seas was by sail and the journeys made by these ships required ports of call able to harbour the major fleets of the times.

From an early age, the natural physical conditions of Mahón’s harbour were recognized and enhanced by the fortifications raised on either side of the harbour mouth; firstly by Saint Philips Castle (San Felipe), on the southern shore from 1555 onwards, and later on the northern shore in 1848, although there had been other fortifications there even prior to that.

Saint Philip’s Castle, traced by J.B. Calvi in 1555, was enlarged several times during the Spanish period (1555- 1708), and with the arrival of the English in 1708 was reinforced with construction of a series of works, forming a double defensive enclosure, also by construction of Fort Marlborough on the southern shore of Cala San Esteban.

As early as the Sixteenth Century, Governor Moncayo, in 1541 recommended the construction of a fort on La Mola. Years later Calvi dismissed this idea, opting for construction of Saint Philips on the opposite shore of the harbour. It was the English, in 1708, who initiated building on the northern shore, with Saint Anne’s fort (Santa Ana), consisting of a broken line, forming a Hornworks covered by a ravelin, closing the way to La Mola from the isthmus of Los Freus.

The English were never to finish Saint Anne’s fort on La Mola, according to the plans drawn up by engineer Durand; however, for years there was a series of officers destined there waiting to see the fortification finished.

Years later, in 1799, the English built two defense towers on La Mola: Saint Clair (Cala Taulera) and Erskine (Princesa).

However, the fortress standing on La Mola today is a Spanish masterpiece. Building was initiated after the demolition of Saint Philips Castle (San Felipe), due to reactivation of international tension in the Western Mediterranean, when France occupied Algeria.

Minorca was left almost defenseless after the second destruction of Saint Philips Fortress (San Felipe), in the first half of the Nineteenth Century; but increasing Anglo- French antagonism in the 1840s, due to the crossing of their Mediterranean shipping routes, compelled Spain to fortify the island once again.

Before the Government could approve Minorca’s new defensive criteria, international events were precipitated; in the British Chamber of Lords, they even came to say that if Spain did not defend the island, England would take the necessary measures to avoid its occupation by another power.