In 1779, John Paul Jones (the Scotsman who founded the US navy) led a flotilla of US naval ships into the Forth to attak Leith. A violent storm blew his ships back out into the North Sea. But that led the Government to conclude that Leith needed better defences, so James Craig (designer of Edinburgh’s New Town) was commissioned to design a fort (in what is now Norrth Fort Street). It remained a military base until 1956. The perimeter walls and gatehouse remain – but the site now has a modern housing development.
