Bufadero Battery

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1657 · Authors: Juan de Somavilla y Tejada

Due to threats from the English navy commanded by Robert Blake, in December 1656 the Captain General of the Canary Islands, Alonso Dávila y Guzmán, ordered the military engineer Juan de Somavilla y Tejada to erect two batteries to be located at the mouths of the Valleseco and Bufadero ravines, both north of the city.

Very little is known about the structure of the Bufadero battery; we only know that it was quickly erected and armed with two bronze pieces from a ship of the Indies fleet which, under Admiral Diego de Egües, had taken shelter in the Santa Cruz bay against the threat of the English navy lying in wait.

The Bufadero battery participated in the defence of Santa Cruz during Blake's attack on 30 April 1657. Little else is known about this defensive installation, and there is no record of its subsequent disappearance, whether due to abandonment, its type of construction, or having suffered the strong floods of the Bufadero ravine which, when it rains heavily, discharges a high volume of water.

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