This moment outdoors is brought to you by L.L. Bean, official partner of the National Parks Foundation for the Find Your Park Movement. I'm going to see. situated along the shores of St. Augustine and Northeastern Florida stands the only surviving 17th century military construction in the United States.

Bastilo de Saint Maricos.

A product of forces both political and technological,

the fortress is evidence of empirical competition that defined so much of the colonial era.

Its history is woven into the fabric of America.

On this episode of America's National Parks, the many faces of Castillo-Des San Marcos National Monument,

as told by the Rangers who preserve and protect this historic fort.

In 1673, Manuel Sindhosa had arrived in St. Augustine

at one of a series of wooden forts that had been destroyed and rebuilt many times over.

He was charged by Mariana Queen of Spain to repair the fortifications of St. Augustine.

The wooden structure was in a dilapidated condition. St. Augustine was an

outpost that indirectly defended the Spanish Caribbean and New Spain, but it was never

self-sufficient.

The Viceroy of New Spain, which is Mexico today, was supposed to send a subsidy from his coffers

each year to support the garrison in town. However, for years this subsidy never came. The people of

St Augustine were close to starving and there were no funds to repair the old fort.

Back in 1668, a pirate ship, under disguise, penetrated St Augustine's meager defences.

In the confused darkness, the pirates seemed everywhere as they stormed ashore.

The governor, and a meager handful of soldiers, were able to take refuge in the wooden fort.

Others ran into the woods as the pirates systematically sacked the town.

By the time the pirates left the next day, 60 people were dead.

The sack of St. Augustine was a blessing in disguise for it shocked Spanish

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