In 1618 the military engineer Vittorio Cassar designed the tower for Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt of the Knights of Malta. Funds for its construction were raised primarily by means of the sale of Comino brushwood. Located roughly in the centre of the southern coast of the island, it formed part of a chain of defensive towers – the Wignacourt, Lascaris, and De Redin towers – installed at vantage points along the coastline of the Maltese Islands. St. Mary's Tower greatly improved communications between the islands of Malta and Gozo. The tower also stopped Turkish corsairs from using the island's creeks as a base from which to harry boats from Gozo. Batteries on the coast of Comino had a garrison of 130 men and housed eight 32-pounder and ten 24-pounder cannons, which dominated the North a