Martello Tower Martello Towers are a curiosity to most people and their history is not widely known. The story begins on the island of Corsica on the 9th of Setptember 1794. A British force attacked a French headland on cape Martello. The British military were so impressed by the defence that they built their own towers for the defence of England and Ireland. Each tower had it's own water reservoir and the walls were about eight feet thick. The interior was divided into three storeys. The ground floor was used for holding ammunition, stores and provisions. The first floor acted as living quarters for the garrisons. A 24 pounder cannon was mounted on the top floor; on a traversing carriage. This ensured that the cannon could be pointed in any direction. There was a parapet about 4 feet high from which the defenders could fire muskets; with loopholes for the discharge of carronades. The carronade was a deadly weapon at close range; When loaded with musket balls; grapeshot, lengths of chain and scrap. An iteresting feature about the Martello tower, is that the floors, instead of having metal nails, have wooden nails because in times of war, a spark could be caused by metal nails and start a fire! Martello Tower, Point Pleasant Park Deep within Point Pleasant Park, with its commanding position over the other nearby defence fortifications in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is the oldest Martello Tower in North America. In the spring of 1796, with fear of the possible arrival of the French West Indies fleet, construction of the Martello Tower commenced. It was constructed some 400 yards inland to protect the principle shore batteries that made up the bulk of the harbour defences : Point Pleasant, Northwest Arm and Cambridge Batteries; and Fort Ogilvie. Any assaulting force would have to take out the Martello Tower first before attempting any of the shore batteries. Construction was delayed late in 1796, when authorities halted the project on the grounds that military field commanders could only undertake ‘temporary’ works in case of emergency, and this was definitely a permanent structure. However, Prince Edward’s personal power was enough to get this project approved, and construction proceded that the Tower was functional and defensible by 1797, at a cost of approximately ₤2,400. By 1813, the Tower mounted four 6-pounder guns on garrison carriages on its barrack level, two 24-pounder guns on traversing platforms and six 24-pounder carronades on traversing slides on top. The facing material on the two-story Tower is ironstone rubble masonry, with 8-foot thick walls. The Tower is 26 feet high and is 72 feet in diameter. After 1864, the Tower was used as a self-defensible depot magazine. While neither the Prince of Wales Tower nor any other fortifications of Halifax’s defence system ever fired a shot in anger, shots were fired at the clearing of the Martello Tower on an early winter morning in March, 1840. John Halliburton, upset by an editorial in the Nova Scotian which criticized his father, the Chief Justice, challenged the piece’s author, Joseph Howe, to a duel. Howe stood his ground, allowing Halliburton to shoot and miss. After a time, Howe aimed his pistol high and fired into the air. As he handed his weapon to his second, he cried "Let the creature live!"