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Following the scare of John Paul Jones' cruise of 1779 and then the Napoleonic wars, the Martello Tower was built in 1809 to provide protection for the port of Leith. Originally it stood in the sea off the beach but the area around was reclaimed and is now used for storage of pipes constructed nearby used in the North Sea oil industry. As can be seen this is now an extremely muddy area with public access denied. Elsewhere Martello towers have been put to good use such as at Dublin where one serves as the James Joyce Museum.