Hornwork of Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan National Historic Site
Upon entering Castillo San Felipe del Morro (aka El Morro), you will be on the Plaza de Armas (main plaza). At either end is an archway. To get to the Ochoa Bastion, if facing the fort entrance, head towards the archway on your left. This leads to the Carmen Bastion, and from there you can take the ramp up to Ochoa. It is easy to identify, for it is the structure with the lighthouse on it. The lighthouse was originally installed on the Austria Bastion in 1846. It was moved to Ochoa in 1876.
Ramp connecting the Carmen and Ochoa bastions of Castillo San Felipe del Morro, San Juan National Historic Site
The Ochoa Bastion is one part of El Morro’s hornwork, which are the structures you see as you walk across the esplanade (large field) from Norzagaray Street towards the fortress. Comprised of two bastions connected by a curtain (term for a wall between two defensive structures), these protected the fort from a land attack. There was a rudimentary hornwork when the fort was first built in 1539, but after it was captured and temporarily held by the British in 1598, the Spanish built an improved hornwork in the early 1600s. This was subsequently torn down and rebuilt in the 1770s, and this is the structure standing today.
The original Ochoa Bastion was two levels, which made it highly ineffective. Instead of one large terreplein (artillery deck) where a dozen or more cannon could fit, the higher of the two sections, which was the most important, could barely fit three cannon. The reason for the multiple levels is because the fort is built on a cliff, and the terrain slopes quite a bit towards the ocean in this area. To make the bastion one level would require one wall to be much taller, which means it would have to hold back a lot more earthen fill. Either the Spanish did not have the technology in the early 1600s to build a wall tall and strong enough, or they just didn’t want to spend the time and money. It wasn’t until 1786 when the lower terreplein was finally raised to create one terreplein of the same height, and for the first time all three features of the hornwork—Ochoa, Austria, and the curtain—were level with each other.
Slope of the hill below El Morro’s Ochoa and Carmen bastions, San Juan National Historic Site
Today Ochoa is once again two levels, though the height difference—only three stairs up—is much smaller than it was when originally built. The current configuration, a raised platform on the northeast-facing side (seaward) of the bastion, was required when new artillery pieces were installed in the 1850s. Unlike the 18th century cannon that were simply rolled into place on small carriages and could only shoot straight ahead, the modern guns were mounted on large, pivoting carriages so that they could easily be rotated left or right. The front of the carriage was attached to a pintle that held it in place, and the rear wheels sat on tracks (typically iron) embedded into the ground so that they rolled smoothly. The carriages either elevated the guns above the parapet (wall that protected soldiers on the terreplein), or the parapet was removed altogether, as was the case on Ochoa.
Iron tracks for artillery carriages installed on Castille San Felipe del Morro’s Ochoa Bastion in the mid-1800s, San Juan National Historic Site
19th century modifications to Ochoa Bastion
The photo of the cannon below is of a Rodman gun from the mid-1800s at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina, part of Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park. While not the gun or carriage used at El Morro, it illustrates the general idea of how the pivoting carriages worked.
Rodman gun and carriage at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina
In the 1890s, the 1850s guns were replaced with modern 9-inch howitzers and hidden behind an earthen embankment for protection. The wall still standing to the rear of the emplacements is the retaining wall that held the dirt in place. Everything but the wall was removed during a 1938-40 restoration project done by the United States Army.
Retaining wall on Castillo San Felipe del Morro’s Ochoa Bastion installed in the 1890s to support an earthen cover for new guns, San Juan National Historic Site
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Last updated on April 9, 2024
