The Fort of São Pedro, also known as the Fort of the Port of Biscoitos, is located in the parish of

Biscoitos Biscoitos is a civil parish in the municipality of Praia da Vitória, on the island of Terceira in the Portuguese Azores. The population in 2011 was 1,424, in an area of 27.05 km2. Due to its volcanic origin, its terrain is poor, so vines w ...

, in the municipality of

Praia da Vitória Praia da Vitória (; translating as "Beach of Victory") is a municipality in the Portuguese archipelago of the Azores. With a population of 21,035 (in 2011), the second largest administrative authority on the island of Terceira, it covers an are ...

, on the north coast of

Terceira Island Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the North Atlantic Ocean at a similar latitude to Portugal's capital Lisbon, with the island group forming an insular part of Portugal. It is one of the ...

in the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

. It was designed to defend the Biscoitos bay against attacks by pirates and

privateers A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

, who were once frequent in this region of the Atlantic Ocean. It crossed fire with the

Fort of Rua Longa The Fort of Rua Longa was located in the Rolo bay or cove in the parish of Biscoitos, municipality of Praia da Vitória, on the north coast of Terceira Island, in the Azores. In a dominant position over this stretch of coastline, it was designed ...

, to the east.

History

The fort was built around 1520 by the "Provider of Fortifications", Pedro Anes do Canto, to defend the anchorage that served not only his land, but also Portuguese ships during the

Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...

. It was named in his honour. Although precise information is lacking, it appears that it was rebuilt between 1579 and 1581 during the Portuguese succession crisis by order of the magistrate of the Azores, Ciprião de Figueiredo e Vasconcelos, as part of the island's defence plan. In the context of the Portuguese Civil War (1828–1834), the fort was subject to reinforcement work in 1828, and began to house a detachment of troops with the function of preventing a possible landing attempt by absolutist forces opposing the liberal constitutionalist regime that was supported by Terceira. At the end of this conflict, it was left unguarded. Some minor repairs were carried out in 1862, because it was considered to be the area with the best chance on the north coast of the island for enemy forces to land. 15 fte porto bisc

In 1881 the fort was reported as being abandoned and partially ruined, with the garrison house having been occupied by a fisherman. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it housed a machine gun emplacement. Today the remains are preserved on the initiative of the Biscoitos Parish Council.

Characteristics

A plan of the fort produced in 1881 by Damião Pego shows it as having an irregular pentagonal plan. The outer walls, built in stone, have three gun emplacements. A house built of masonry with a thatched roof was built separately for the garrison, outside of the fort area.

References

{{Authority control Forts in the Azores Buildings and structures in Praia da Vitória