On 12 September 1799, a company of French troops from Fort Manoel attempted to silence an insurgent gun position in San Ġwann, but were repelled by the Maltese insurgents. British rule When Malta became a British protectorate in 1800, Fort Manoel was officially taken over by the British military that September. The piazza of Fort Manoel was the subject of the earliest known photographs of Malta, which were taken in 1840 by Horace Vernet while he was quarantined at the Lazzaretto but are now believed to be lost. In the late 19th century, the echaugettes on the bastions facing Valletta were dismantled to make way for gun emplacements. Later on, significant alterations were made to St. Anthony Bastion, when its gunpowder magazine was demolished to make way for a battery of three QF 12-pounder guns. The British military finally decommissioned the fort's guns in 1906, although it remained a military establishment. It was included on the Antiquities List of 1925. The fort saw use again during World War II, when a battery of 3.7-inch heavy anti-aircraft guns was deployed there. The guns were mounted in concrete gun emplacements and deployed in a semicircle in and around the fort. The fort suffered considerable damage to its ramparts, barracks and chapel as a result of aerial bombing during the war. The fort was eventually decommissioned in 1964. Recent history After being decommissioned, Fort Manoel was abandoned and fell into a state of disrepair. Parts of it were also vandalized. In 1970, the Royal Malta Yacht Club acquired part of the fort as its club house, and the yacht club remained there until it acquired new premises in Ta' Xbiex in 2008. In August 2001, the development company MIDI plc began restoration work on the fort. Phase One of the project, which included the restoration of the piazza and the reconstruction of the ruined chapel, was completed in 2009. The second phase, including the restoration of the outer fortifications and glacis, was approved by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in 2012. The restoration of Fort Manoel together with that of the nearby Fort Tigné cost a total of €30 million. Layout Fort Manoel is built in the shape of a square, with a pentagonal bastion on each corner, giving it the shape of a star fort. The four bastions are called St. Helen, St. Anthony, St. John and Notre Dame Bastions. St.