Miscellaneous travels on Corregidor

[fots2]

Spanish Fort
Location: Stockade Level


One of the items on my “to do” list was to have a detailed look around the old Spanish fort at the Stockade level. On the way back to the hotel one afternoon in October I finally got that done.

I circled it completely and was a little disappointed that I cannot show you anything but stone walls. Nothing I saw other than the shape of it would suggest that this was a fort.

There is still a 75mm gun shelter and an adjacent magazine but they were built by the Americans years after the Spanish were gone.

Today employees of the Corregidor Foundation Incorporated (and maybe others) live in this area. Part of the fort borders on their motel style rooms. A year or two ago, a little videoke bar and pool table was constructed outside one of the walls. I have never seen it in operation and it certainly is in disrepair now. The other three sides of the fort’s walls are mostly intact but quite overgrown.




75mm gun shelter facing Bottomside south.




A small magazine is located behind the shelter.




fort wall adjacent to the videoke bar.




Another section of the same wall.




At the centre of the photo is the destroyed sharp corner of two walls which can be seen on both sides.




Lots of rainy season moss growing on this wall.




The opening you see further along the wall is a big crack and broken crevice all the way from the top to the bottom.




Along the bottom of the highest part of the wall facing Bottomside, there is a second thicker wall giving it a terraced look.




Another grown up wall section.


That’s it, all the way around the outside walls of the old Spanish Fort.

Does anyone know any history of this fort such as when it was constructed? Was there more to it than just a platform for the guns?

[okla]

Hey Fots...Thanks for the mini-tour of the old Spanish Fort. First pics I have ever seen of it. This structure is kinda overlooked in all the Corregidor lore that is posted on this site. Another little, out of the way place that you have now, so ably, revealed to those of us who will never get to tred the "rock". Cant help but wonder what those early Spanish troops, who manned this little outpost, would think if they could have seen what a formidable (for its day) fortress Corregidor evolved into during the following decades.

[The Phantom]

I also believe that the Spanish Fort area deserves much more exploration.
I have tried to get on the top from several angles but never found a way that was not going to take a great deal of effort, and probably a lot of nasty scratches to accomplish.

You still don't want to get any kind of wound while on Corregidor.
Being careful is a prerequisite.

I have walked around the entire base of the Fort, which starts near the current housing used by the staff of C.F.I., the North side of the old walls of the Fort.
It took hours, because of the thorny vines trees, bushes etc. No straight lines are possible.

There is a concrete American built sidewalk in the jungle that goes from the South Shore Road steps, (as it goes East in this section), blown away in some sections, up to and around the south side of the Fort.
It passes the following structures on the 1932 map:

Directly south of the Fort was building #438 Civ. Employees quarters.
The sidewalk goes around the Fort at the western end one branch goes to the Stockade, and building # 207, another Civ. Employees Quarters. #207 butts up against the old Fort.

Another branch of the sidewalk continues west until it reaches 3 large buildings,
#234, The Corregidor Elementary School
#235 and #236, Barracks 92 C.A. (P.S.)
The sidewalk joins other sidewalks continues on to other roads and buildings.

It's hard to get a good idea of the entire structure of the Fort because of the dense foliage all around and on top today.

In some places the walls look solid, in others they are blown apart.
The old Spanish Fort is not even of interest to the Tour guides today, so most tourists on the island never see it.

On top of the Fort, at the western end, and west of the American position built on the Fort, there is a concrete Japanese style toilet built into the top of the Fort.
A Japanese toilet to me looks like a toilet seat cover flat on the ground or floor with a hole to do your business.
Their are no walls around it or any remnant of any, wood building in the past?
I asked those on the island years ago when I first discovered it if it was Japanese? No definitive answer, but it is just next to the only building that the Japanese supposedly built on Corregidor.

I would think there may have been some machine gun positions, at least fox holes, on top of the old Fort, just based on it's location. The old Fort looks directly down on Black Beach, the invasion Beach in 1945.

I had found some unexpected fox holes, with spent and unspent 30 caliber ammunition in them, on top of Skipper Hill, where the Salute Gun was located, which is right next to the Hotel, to the north. Everyone walks by this hill to get anywhere they want to go.

I tried at one time, to get the Spanish Embassy interested in the Fort and their history on Corregidor, got no response to my inquiries.

[Deleted]

I found this photograph in the Book "Our Boys in the Philippines" by P. Fremont Rockett.

The accompanying caption reads as follows:

"Corregidor Battery - From these guns Dewey received his first fire on the morning of May 1. 1898. on his way to destroy the Spanish fleet. The night was dark: the "Olympia" and "Baltimore" had passed when flames issued from the smokestack of the "Boston." which warned the Spanish who opened fire only to be silenced by the "Boston's" guns. After sinking the fleet a return we made and this battery destroyed."

I do not think this is the site of the old spanish Fort. But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

P.S. Sorry I've been away for so long

[EXO]

How do you conclude it's a benjo, Phantom?

I was told it was an armory, which itself seems a little strange given that there are large numbers of places for arms storage.

I have no evidence, this is pure conjecture.

Whatever it is, it appears to be the only building actually built by the Japanese on Corregidor.

What says the board?

[The Phantom]

Copied from above.
"Benji", not described as being in the Japanese building in front of the Fort wall, but as being......

"ON TOP OF THE FORT, at the western end, and west of the American position built on the Fort, there is a concrete Japanese style toilet built into the top of the Fort.
A Japanese toilet to me looks like a toilet seat cover flat on the ground or floor with a hole to do your business.
Their are no walls around it or any remnant of any, wood building in the past?
I asked those on the island years ago when I first discovered it if it was Japanese? No definitive answer, but it is just next to the only building that the Japanese supposedly built on Corregidor."

No toilets in the Japanese Bunker type building, sorry for the confusion.

[fots2]

Mr. Phantom has provided an excellent description of walking around in the area of the fort. I have never seen that toilet or if I did, I never recognized it for what it was.

Here is a photo of the concrete walkway beside the fort that he mentions.





Regarding the building supposedly constructed by the Japanese, have you guys ever taken a good look at it? It had significant importance for someone because it looks like they went to the bother to add outer concrete walls and a roof slab to reinforce the existing building. The wall you see from the outside is not the inner building’s wall.

An outer wall facing west and a much larger outer wall on the end facing south were added. From the south this building would be very visible from the ocean if there were no trees. The actual building is inside these outer walls. The east and north walls were not reinforced.

Also, the roof was reinforced with a concrete slab. It is a different color concrete making it look like it was added later, most likely when the extra walls were built. Remember the look of the cap added to C1, this looks the same.

To help everyone understand what we are discussing, here are some photos of this building:



Looking east, here is an exterior view of the west wall and the large cap on the southern end. The west wall of the interior building can be seen through the two doorways. The exterior doorways (2) are offset from the interior doorway (1). The end cap does not touch the interior building.

Note the roof of the building. A top slab of a lighter shade of concrete appears to have been added to the roof after the original building construction.



View looking south showing the walkway between the exterior west wall (on the right) and the building’s west wall (on the left). The doors on each side are offset.

Why would the building have two windows looking out to a concrete wall? Perhaps because the outer wall was added later?

The dark rectangles at the top of the building’s walls are air vents.

The perpendicular concrete wall at the end is part of the outer cap on the southern end.



Here is the view looking east of inside the southern cap (on the right, top and far end). The southern wall of the actual building is on the left. Near the end of the building’s wall is a doorway.

The area at the end where you can see trees is the south-east corner of the building which has sustained considerable damage.

I have no idea what the concrete pillar in the middle of the floor is for.



This is a view taken from inside the building looking towards the west doorway. The concrete exterior wall is in sight. There is one more window and air vent in sight also.



Inside the building looking south. You can see the doorway and the damaged top south-east corner.



Standing in the south-west corner of the building looking east. Another view of the damaged area.



Who or what is “ML 307”? This is chipped on the wall inside the building.

Does anyone know for sure exactly what this building was?

[fots2]

Hi Tiyoalan,

Welcome back.

I am sure you are correct, this is not the Spanish Fort at the Stockade area we are referring. I would say it is Bottomside north as I can see Bataan and part of the Mount Mariveles slope in the background.

Nice photo, thanks.

[fots2]

Tiyoalan,

I was just thinking, does that book have any other Corregidor photos from that period that you could post.

Thanks.

[Deleted]

Yes, there is one other. A collage.