Fort on Ilha Sal Rei
This 15th century fort stands on the tiny island of Sal Rei, in the Cape Verde islands. It was built to guard the salt-pans on the adjacent island of Boa Vista, salt being in ancient times an immensely valuable commodity. When Drake visited the archipelago he gave this place a wide berth and, instead, attacked the island of Santiago.
The fort eventually fell into disuse and was abandoned. After thirty or forty years of neglect the rooves of the soldiers quarters will have fallen in, and the wooden trucks which carried the cannons will gradually have crumbled away, dropping their load to the ground.
And so the cannons lie, as they have evidently lain for two hundred years and more. With their muzzles pointing out across the bay they seem to be awaiting the return of the pirates.
(Watercolour - 15 x 11" / 38 x 28cm)