Fuerte Tauco, Spanish colonial fort in Chonchi, Chile

Fuerte Tauco is a coastal battery built in 1779 in the Tauco locality of Chonchi commune, Chiloé Province. Spanish engineer Miguel de Zorrilla had a cut made in a hillside at a narrow point of the Castro fjord to create an artificial terrace for the fort. On this terrace stood three cannons, a culverin, and barracks for the militia, protected by a fascine parapet.

Fuerte Tauco was built in 1779 to a design by the Spanish engineer Miguel de Zorrilla, after the Governorate of Chiloé was separated from the Captaincy General of Chile in 1767 and attached to the Viceroyalty of Perú. Zorrilla chose a narrow point of the Castro fjord and had a hillside cut back to create an artificial terrace for three cannons and a culverin, with fascine parapets and barracks. It was never used in battle; from 1826 it was abandoned.

The name Tauco comes from Mapudungun, meaning "next to the water." The site is also called Fortín Tauco. Since 2016 a wooden lookout roofed and lined with quilineja has stood on the terrace, and lighting installed then is visible from the sea.

The site sits in Tauco, Chonchi commune, reached by road from Castro; the fort occupies an artificial terrace cut into the hillside above the Castro fjord. A roofed wooden lookout clad in quilineja, built in 2015 and finished in early 2016, marks the historical terrace and carries information about the site. Lighting installed then is visible from the sea. Archaeological finds are kept at the Municipal Museum of Castro, not on site.

The three cannons now at the site were taken to Castro in 1930 and stood as ornaments on the city's plaza de armas until the early 21st century, when they were returned after restoration. The culverin that accompanied them was lost overboard during the 1930 transfer and never recovered.