Note 16 — Chapter III · THE ATTACK ON CORSICA.

General Sir J. F. Maurice, in his 'Diary of Sir John Moore,' says that the tower was so named from its situation on the shore of Mortella Bay—i.e., the Bay of Myrtles: that it was on the plan of this tower that the so-called "Martello Towers" on the English coast were afterwards built; and that the spelling "Martello" was an error in an early despatch. The derivation of the word as coming from an engineer of the name of Martel is said to be pure fiction.