In 1527 an English ship came prowling about San Juan bay, la Mona, and la Espanola, and this warning to the Spanish authorities was disregarded, notwithstanding Blas de Villasante’s urgent request for artillery and ammunition.

[Illustration:  Inner harbor, San Juan.]

After the burning of San German by a French privateer in August, 1537, Villasante bought five “lombardas” (another kind of small ordnance) for the defense of San Juan.  In 1529 and 1530 both La Gama, the acting governor, and the city officers represented to the emperor the necessity of constructing fortifications, “because the island’s defenseless condition caused the people to emigrate.”

It appears that the construction of the first fort commenced about 1533, for in that year the Audiencia in la Espanola disposed of some funds for the purpose, and Governor Lando suggested the following year that if the fort were made of stone “it would be eternal.”  The suggestion was acted upon and a tax levied on the people to defray the expense.

This fort must have been concluded about the year 1540, for in that same year the ecclesiastical and the city authorities were contending for the grant of the slaves, carts, and oxen that had been employed, the former wanting them for the construction of a church, the latter for making roads and bridges.

This “Fortaleza” is the same edifice which, after many changes, was at last, and is still, used as a gubernatorial residence, the latest reconstruction being effected in 1846.[36] As a fort, Gonzalez Fernandez de Oviedo denounced it as a piece of useless work which, “if it had been constructed by blind men could not have been located in a worse place,” and in harmony with his advice a battery was constructed on the rocky promontory called “the Morro.”

San Juan had now a fort (1540) but no guns.  The crown officers, reporting an attack on Guayama by a French privateer in 1541, again clamor for artillery.  Treasurer Castellanos writes in March and June of the same year:  “The artillery for this fort has not yet arrived.  How are we to defend it?”

Treasurer Salinas writes in 1554:  “The French have taken several ships.  It would have been a great boon if your Majesty had ordered Captain Mindirichaga to come here with his four ships to defend this island and la Espanola.  He would have found Frenchmen in la Mona, where they prepare for their expeditions and lay in wait.  They declare their intention to take this island, and it will be difficult for us to defend it without artillery or other arms.  If there is anything in the fort it is useless, nor is the fort itself of any account.  It is merely a lodging-house.  The bastion on the Morro, if well constructed, could defend the entrance to the harbor with 6 pieces.  We have 60 horsemen here with lances and shields, but no arquebusiers or pikemen.  Send us artillery and ammunition.”

The demand for arms and ammunition continued in this way till 1555, when acting Governor Caraza reported that 8 pieces of bronze ordnance had been planted on the Morro.