The guns started to speak on June 24. Day in and day out, the English cannonballs and mortar shells dropped into the town, into the bay, and occasionally into the coquina walls of the fort. “…In this Affliction the Settlement and the Garrison took for their defense Most Holy Mary of the Rosary, ordering that at each shot from the Enemies no other thing was to be heard than AVE MARIA, the same with the balls and bombs…” So Bishop Buenaventura described his contribution to the general welfare; such moral builders as these shouts of “Ave Maria” were of increasing importance as supplies dwindled and sleep was constantly interrupted by the shelling. (From Mose in Secondary Literature by Amy)