From the Queen's Bastion, the gaze sweeps across the waves to rest on the National Fort, isolated on its rocky islet, which can be reached on foot at low tide. Facing the sea, it seems to watch over Saint-Malo like an immutable sentinel, defying the waves and the wind.

The fort was built in 1689 on the orders of Louis XIV, as part of a vast coastal defense program orchestrated by Vauban and entrusted to the engineer Siméon Garangeau, his disciple. It was intended to protect the corsair city from English and Dutch attacks at a time when Saint-Malo was a strategic port and a center of French privateering. Its thick walls and cannons could cross fire with those of the city's bastions, making any frontal assault extremely perilous.

The history of Fort National is marked by significant episodes: in 1693, it repelled an attempted bombardment by the Anglo-Dutch fleet; in 1944, it served as a prison for hundreds of Saint-Malo residents captured by the Germans during the Siege of Saint-Malo.

Now a listed Historic Monument, the fort can be visited at low tide, offering a journey through time and an exceptional view of the corsair city and the bay—a place where the echoes of battles now mingle with the cries of seagulls.