Spanish Water Battery

Batería de San Antonio is a white, stuccoed, semicircular battery built by Spain in 1797 after recapturing the Pensacola area from the British, as part of a plan to strengthen harbor defenses. At that time, smoothbore cannon had a maximum range of about one mile. In the 1840s, the United States modified and armed the battery while building Fort Barrancas. From this position near water level, gunners could fire smoothbore cannon shots at ship masts or skip shots across the surface of the bay in hopes of hitting wooden hulls at the waterline.

Warrington, Florida · United States