Fuerte Santiago

As we got closer to town, we sighted a dock off to the west end where it looked like we could tie the dinghy. We motored over there, found a space at the dock, and tied off with a number of local pangas. There were panga drivers hanging around their boats, as well as a number of local kids who were eager to solicit a few dollars from us to "watch our dinghy". Without making any commitments, we told them that we would be back in an hour or so and walked up the dock to the adjacent fort.

The second fort we explored was called Fuerte Santiago, also built in the 18th century. As we walked along its ramparts, this time, though, instead of being by ourselves, there were many tourists milling around on the warm Sunday morning. Portobelo is only a short bus ride from Colon, and every 10 minutes or so a bus would pull into the small town and disgorge 20-30 more tourists who had by now grown to a throng, who flocked the streets wherever we went.

Nonetheless, it was still a very interesting place to visit. Once again this fort had a commanding view of the bay, and once again we could easily imagine the guns firing over to where RHAPSODY lay peacefully at anchor a mile or so away.

During its history, there were many battles fought in this bay. Sir Francis Drake himself attacked it twice, sacking the Customs House. In 1679, two English and one French ship united in an attack, landing 200 men around the corner who snuck in overland and overpowered the batteries as the ships entered the bay for the final assault. The attack succeeded and Portobelo was ransacked. Later, it was captured again by the famous pirate Henry Morgan, who demanded, and received, a 100,000 peso ransom so that he would not kill all of the inhabitants. Then it was attacked and captured again in 1739, this time by Admiral Edward Vernon of the British Navy.

Fuerte Santiago