Fort Haldane is located near

Port Maria Port Maria is the capital town of the Jamaican parish of Saint Mary. Originally named "Puerto Santa Maria", it was the second town established by Spanish settlers in Jamaica. The ruins of Fort Haldane, built 1759, overlook the town. It has a p ...

in the parish of

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and was erected in 1759. It was named after General

George Haldane George Haldane was born in 1722 to the Clan Haldane. His father Patrick Haldane was a lawyer and politician, and his uncle Mungo Haldane was also a politician. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is one of his descendants. Biography He joined the ...

, then Governor of Jamaica. The fort was constructed to protect the harbour of Port Maria from Spanish raids. It was also used as a

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

to keep the enslaved and working classes of St. Mary under control. The guns of the fort are strategically positioned on a hill facing seaward, which gives a wide view of the old shipping port of Port Maria. The Fort is located next to

Firefly Estate Firefly Estate, located east of Oracabessa, Jamaica, is the burial place of Sir Noël Coward and his former holiday home. It is now listed as a National Heritage Site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust. Although the setting is Edenic, the ho ...

, the original home of Sir

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming wea ...

, and later, Sir

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

. Morgan had realized the strategic military advantage of the land and used it as an observation outpost more than 150 years prior to the construction of the Fort.

History

Fort Haldane served a pivotal role in

Tacky's rebellion Tacky's War, Tacky's Revolt, or Tacky's Rebellion, was a widespread slave rebellion in the British Colony of Jamaica in the 1760s. Led by Akan people (then referred to as Coromantee but originally from around Kromantsie in the Central Region of Gh ...

, one of Jamaica's bloodiest rebellions against slavery in 1760. On Easter Sunday, a runaway slave known as Tacky and a small group of slaves from neighboring plantations murdered their masters and marched to Port Maria where they killed the guards at Fort Haldane and stole several barrels of gunpowder and firearms. They fought alongside hundreds of other slaves and

Maroons Maroons are descendants of African diaspora in the Americas, Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples, eventually ethnogenesi ...

for five months. Their rebellion was ultimately quashed by the colonial government and the death of Tacky in a fierce firefight. The fort was in active service from 1759 until 1780 when a hurricane destroyed the storerooms, barracks, and main garrison building. By 1780, the threat of Spanish attack on the North Coast of the island had largely waned, and the decision was made to abandon the fort and relocate the garrison to nearby Ocho Rios. Governor Haldane was actively involved in the design of the fort. As a highly decorated veteran of many major field battles, Haldane was an expert in artillery and ballistics. Haldane was friends with noted English scientist

Benjamin Robins Benjamin Robins (170729 July 1751) was a pioneering British scientist, Newtonian mathematician, and military engineer. He wrote an influential treatise on gunnery, for the first time introducing Newtonian science to military men, was an early en ...

, and he enlisted Robins to help with the gunnery placements for the fort. Robin’s applied his scientific approach to ballistics, and determined that the entire port could be successfully defended by the use of two high-accuracy cannons placed 1,000 ft above sea level. The guns that would be required would have a precision that was unprecedented at the time. The cannon carriages were mounted on turntables to permit side-to-side aiming, and a track to allow for cannon recoil. The turntable was a small version of the locomotive turntables that were used by railroad companies to reverse engines or move them from one track to another. The ability to move the cannons almost 180 degrees across the horizon eliminated the need for a multi-cannon arsenal, while providing the highest degree of protection from enemy attack. The two cannons and the ruins of several outbuildings are all that remains of Fort Haldane today.

References

{{National Heritage Sites in Jamaica Buildings and structures in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica Tourist attractions in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica Museums in Jamaica Monuments and memorials in Jamaica Forts in Jamaica 1759 establishments in the British Empire