WHEN "EL MORRO" WAS MADE OF WOOD
Any Cuban, particularly those living in the capital, when referring to something very old usually says: "that's from when El Morro was made of wood". Well, dear reader, contrary to other sayings, whoever says so is absolutely right, because as far back as April 15, 1553, the Havana City Council, faced with the growing threat of corsairs and pirates, placed lookouts on the prominent rock that dominates the entrance to the bay's channel.
This watchtower also served as a signal station for navigation. Soon its usefulness would be severely tested. At first light on July 10, 1555, the ships under the command of the famous French corsair Jacques de Sores were sighted from the watchtower of El Morro, where an alert watchman made the signal agreed upon for such cases, followed by a cannon shot that did not fail to alarm the locals unpleasantly. While the defenders of the town were preparing to repel the attack, the invaders under the command of Sores disembarked in the area of the cove of San Vicente, where the tower of San Lázaro would later be located and where it still remains. Their advance was followed, although not impeded, by neighbors on horseback, who informed the authorities of the progress of the invaders, until they arrived and besieged the weakly armed fortress of La Fuerza Vieja.
The new Governor, Don Diego de Mazariegos, ordered the construction of a more durable building, which was completed in 1561. From there, signals were made by flags and lights to the ships in demand of the port and the interior of the bay, and it continued with its tasks of surveillance of the accesses to the Havana roadstead and early warning of the presence of hostile ships.
The work consisted of a tower of calicanto of "…six and a half statues high and very white work", for which the King congratulates Mazariegos, for being "…a very necessary and important thing", since this beacon allowed to discover the corsairs and helped to find the entrance of the port to the ships.
In order to finance the construction and maintenance of the structure, a fee was imposed for the anchoring rights of the ships. Its location on the elevation already known as El Morro and its signal masts used a code of signals that allowed a wide combination of flags and pennants, facilitating communication with the Castillo de La Real Fuerza, built between 1558 and 1577, which replaced the destroyed Fuerza Vieja in Havana's renewed defense system. Additionally, the aforementioned tower was part of the watchtower system of the western coast of the island.
Today, although there is no need to watch out for enemy ships, in the Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, a few meters behind its emblematic lighthouse, you can see a masonry construction roofed with red tiles, which even today, 463 years later, continues to serve as a lookout and liaison between ships arriving and departing from the Rada Habanera and serves as traffic control at the access points. It is the oldest traffic light station still in operation in the world, which, equipped with modern means of communications, fulfills the functions of navigation safety, ship warning and liaison between the port authorities and the ships. Until the beginning of the 2000s, it even had a marine signal mast that, by means of flag hoisting and light combinations, fulfilled the same functions inherited from those trees of yesteryear. From there, ships arriving or leaving the bay were greeted.
Yes, my friend reader; indeed, El Morro was made of wood.