Well-supplied with men and war goods intended for the attack on Georgia, Guemes took pity on Montiano and dispatched eight companies of pickets (400 men) and 82 forced laborers to rebuild fortifications around Saint Augustine. Guemes also sent Montiano two military engineers, a master bricklayer, six skilled Negro stonemasons, 12 new iron cannon, and 6,000 pesos, which the governor used to build six new barracks and four patrol boats for the Saint Augustine harbor area. [Note 19: gov of Cuba to gov of FL 3/24/1738; gov to king 6/12/1738] In the end this aid was decisive in saving the colony. When the War of Jenkins’s Ear broke out in 1739, Montiano was at least partially prepared to meet the onslaughts of the English. (Tepaske GSF)