Fort George commanded the primary approach to Grand Cayman. Built around 1780, the fort was established in response to war between European nations that also embroiled their New World colonies, including the Cayman Islands. Caymanians organized a volunteer militia to man Fort George and a second fort at Prospect. After a Spanish force from Cuba attacked and destroyed Fort George, it was rebuilt with eight embrasures for cannons and a mahogany gate. Edward Corbet’s 1802 report on the Cayman Islands records that the fort mounted three small, poorly equipped guns. The walls were built of local limestone, two to five feet thick and five feet tall. Little is left of Fort George today, though cannons still ceremonially guard the sea approach to George Town. A World War Two submarine lookout, manned by the Home Guard, was perched in a silk cotton tree at Fort George; it can be seen on the grounds of the fort.