Fort Boyard
Located on the western coast of france, Fort Boyard is a structure that was built in the ocean to bolster France’s fortifications.
This oval shaped fort measures 223 ft or 68 meters by 102 ft or 31 meters wide with walls that are 66ft or 20m tall. Able to garrison 250 men this Fort was seen as the missing piece of France’s coastal defense.
On the ground floor of Fort Boyard stores and quarters for the men and officers surrounded an open air yard.
The first story contained more living quarters and casemates for the emplacements of guns.
Moving up higher in the building were facilities for barbette guns and mortars.
Back in the mid 1600s, at a time when artillery range was limited, the fields of fire between Oleron island and the fortifications on Aix island didn’t overlap. Almost half way between the 2 was a small patch of land in the ocean called Boyard bank.
Plans for the construction of Fort Boyard were devised by French engineer Descombs in 1692 but was soon deemed too expensive to pursue.
Louis XIV’s leading military engineer, Vauban famously said “Your Majesty, it would be easier to seize the moon with your teeth than to attempt such an undertaking in such a place”
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