Martello Towers

CHAPTER XLII

Martello Towers

Martello towers, which are so plentifully studded along many portions of the English and Irish coasts, were built in Ireland by the military authorities under “The National Defence Act” of 1804. There were originally fifteen between Dublin and Bray, but some six or seven have either been taken down, or have fallen, in consequence of the erosion of their sites by the sea. They cost on an average about £1,800 each, and usually took some six months to build. The ordinary number of men in occupation was only three, but sometimes, as at Sandycove, where the tower was reinforced by a battery, there was a larger garrison.

The tower on Dalkey Island was built in the summer of 1804, and on its completion, the signalling station at Dalkey was transferred to it from the semaphore tower on the top of Dalkey Hill. Sandymount Martello tower - a well-known landmark on the shore of that suburb

• was erected in 1806, and was, some years ago, sold to the Dublin Tramways Company.

The name Martello is said to be a corruption of Mortella, and to have originated with the celebrity acquired by a fortified tower in Corsica, in consequence of the extraordinary resistance it offered to an attack by a British force in the French Revolutionary wars. In 1793 Corsica was in insurrection against the French, and the British Government, as a matter of policy, decided to support the insurgents. It was arranged to begin operations by taking a tower, held by the French, in a strategic position on Cape Mortella, a headland dominating the only safe anchorage in the Gulf of San Fiorenzo. This structure was armed with one 24 pounder and two 18 pounders. Accordingly, in September, a British squadron of three ships of the line and two frigates went to the assistance of the insurgents, and the two frigates were ordered to capture this tower. After a comparatively short bombardment it was abandoned by its little garrison and occupied by the British. Some short time afterwards, the French recaptured it, and profiting by their previous experience, considerably strengthened its defences and armament.

In the following year, 1794, a further attempt was made by the British to support the Corsican insurgents. On the 7th February, a party of 1,400 troops was landed and a determined attack made on the tower next day. Simultaneously with the attack by land, two ships, the *Fortitude *and the *Juno, *bombarded it for two and a half hours, without effect, and then retired, the *Fortitude *being on fire and having 62 men killed and wounded. The shore batteries continued the attack, but their fire was equally unsuccessful until at length red-hot balls were tried, one of which set fire to the bass junk with which the massive parapet was heavily lined, and the garrison of 33 men then surrendered. The captors were much surprised to find that the armament consisted of only three pieces - two 18 pounders and one 6 pounder.

At this period all England was in constant apprehension of an invasion by the French, and the remarkable defence offered in this case by so small and lightly armed a garrison, greatly impressed the military authorities with the suitability of such towers for coastal defence. Accordingly, we find Martello towers being built in great numbers along the shores of England, especially the south and east coasts, where whole stretches are studded with them at short intervals. Their erection was strongly denounced by Cobbett and others at the time, as unjustifiable extravagance. They are nearly all of the same type, consisting of solid masonry with vaulted rooms for the garrison, an ammunition store underneath, and a platform on the top for one or two or even three guns firing over a low parapet. The entrance was usually by a door about 18 or 20 feet from the ground, access to which was obtained by a movable ladder.

Similar towers were subsequently erected by Austria on the shores of the Adriatic, and were called Maximilian towers.

“Mortella” in Italian means “myrtle” which grows abundantly on Cape Mortella and originated its name.

“Martello Tower” is used occasionally by contemporary writers in a figurative sense, to signify a position of great strength or security in any political or public question.

The *Encyclopaedia Britannica *(11th Edition) from which the details of the above action have been obtained, derives the name, as stated, from Cape Mortella, and on this point most authorities agree. A few, however, give the derivation as being from the Italian “martello,” a hammer, because, it is alleged, such towers were originally equipped with a bell, which was struck with a hammer on the approach of an enemy. Defensive towers were erected on the coast of Southern Italy at the close of the 18th century, and, it is stated, were called “Tot di Martello,” but whether this name, if authentic, was adopted from the English, or the English from the Italian, is not now easy to determine.

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