Built in 1554 during the reign of La Sengle by military engineer Bellavante, Sheer Bastion sealed off Senglea from Burmula. Thereon, in the early 1600’s, Grandmaster Alof de Wignacourt (1601 – 22) built a massive structure; a large wooden crane eventually known as il-Macina that was designed to hoist heavy cargo or galley parts and bring them ashore. In 1864 this wooden structure was replaced by a fixed iron sheerlegs crane. This eventually crashed into the water with terrific force, breaking in two and creating a five foot wave that drenched several onlookers. The Admiralty dismantled this contraption in 1927 and replaced it by a floating crane that had arrived in Malta in 1925.