Spaniards "would strengthen more and fortify that castle, which in my time wanted great reparations and was ready to fall." The Captain of the castle was described by Gage as "a great wine bibler, who plyed 39
us with. Liquor fll7 the time we stayed there. .
Between 1645 and 1667 periodic inspections and some improvements were made at the castle of Chagres. A royal c dula of September 159, 1645, ordered an investigation of the decline of the fort. Shortly afterwards, Pedro de Bega, nephew of the Governor of Panama, was aphe
pointed its Captain.
Erected at the high rocky cliff at the mouth of the Chagres overlooking the Caribbean, the castle of San Lorenzo was believed to be very strong. On the sea side of the castle the fort could be reached by a series of steps carved out of stone and- leading to the top of the hill. The steepness of the hill was believed to make the castle easy to defend from the land side. Within the walls of the fort, were built two residences for the Captain of the castle and the other officers. The
39 Thomas Gage, A New Survey of the West Indies,..... Bei a Journal of Three thousand and three hundred Miles within the main land of America London 1699), Gage' s description of the weakness of San Lorenze apparently was correct. A memorial written in 1637 told of the decline of fortifications throughout the Indies. According to the memorial, not even the largest Caribbean fortresses at Cartagena and Havana could be considered strong0 Memorandum b Don Juan Desologuren as to the Powers of the Dutch in the West Indies dated Nov. 19, 163 as appears in Agp to the case on Behalf of the Govenment of Her Brittannic Majesty, Vol. I, 193-1723 (London 193 -Yo '.78 T
Celeccion de documents ineditos, 1st Series, XVII, 258-259, 278.
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