Fort San Marcos
Fort San Marcos I diagram from Council of the Indies archives in Seville
The first Fort San Marcos (I) was a prefabricated fort constructed in St Augustine in 1576-77 and brought to Santa Elena by ship when the Spanish military returned following the burning to the ground of the former Spanish colony and Fort San Felipe II during the Escamacu uprising of 1576.
Erected in only 14 days, Fort San Marcos once housed over 200 soldiers and a Roman Catholic church for the use of the military exclusively. Flooding and wood rot began to destroy the wooden fort in 1582 and it was replaced by Fort San Marcos II the following year. In 1586, following the near miss of Sir Francis Drake in a planned attack on Santa Elena, a moat was added to strengthen its defenses. The fort was dismantled and taken to St Augustine when the colony was abandoned in 1587