Sydney, Nova Scotia - History

History

Prior to a permanent settlement being established, there was significant activity along the shore. During the American Revolution, on November 1, 1776, John Paul Jones - the father of the American Navy - set sail in command of Alfred to free hundreds of American prisoners working in the coal mines in eastern Cape Breton. Although winter conditions prevented the freeing of the prisoners, the mission did result in the capture of the Mellish, a vessel carrying a vital supply of winter clothing intended for John Burgoyne's troops in Canada. A few years into the war there was also a naval engagement between French ships and a British convoy off Sydney, Nova Scotia, near Spanish River (1781), Cape Breton. French ships (fighting with the Americans) were re-coaling and defeated a British convoy. Six French sailors were killed and 17 British, with many more wounded.

Sydney was founded after the war by Colonel Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres, and named in honour of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, who was serving as the Home Secretary in the British cabinet. Lord Sydney appointed Col. DesBarres lieutenant-governor of the new colony of Cape Breton Island. In November 1784 the 600-ton ship Blenheim landed a group that consisted primarily of English citizens and disbanded soldiers. A group of Loyalists from the state of New York, fleeing the aftermath of the American Revolution, were added to the immigrants upon their arrival in the neighbouring colony of Nova Scotia. DesBarres arrived at Sydney on January 7, 1785. He held the first meeting of his executive council on February 21, 1785, where he was proclaimed lieutenant-governor in a formal manner and the first minutes of the new colony were taken. The site DesBarres chose for the new settlement was along the Southwest Arm of Sydney Harbour, a drowned valley of the Sydney River, which forms part of Spanish Bay. Between 1784-1820, Sydney was the capital of the British colony of Cape Breton Island. The colony was disbanded and merged with neighbouring Nova Scotia as part of the British government's desire to develop the abundant coal fields surrounding Sydney Harbour; the leases being held by the Duke of York. In 1826, the leases were transferred to the General Mining Association and industrial development around Sydney began to take shape.

By the early twentieth century Sydney became home to one of the world's largest steel plants, fed by the numerous coal mines in the area under the ownership of the Dominion Coal Company. Sydney's economy was a significant part of Industrial Cape Breton with its steel plant and harbour and railway connections adjoining the coal mining towns of Glace Bay, New Waterford, Sydney Mines and Reserve Mines. The economic boom brought about by industrialization saw the community incorporate in 1903. By the late 1960s the coal and steel industries had fallen on hard times and were taken over by the federal and provincial governments and both industries were permanently closed by the end of 2001. Forced to diversify its economy, Sydney has examined a variety of economic development possibilities including tourism and culture, light manufacturing and information technology.

Sydney Harbour played an important role during World War II after a Royal Canadian Navy base, HMCS Protector, was established to stage supply convoys bound for Europe. They tended to be slower convoys and had the prefix SC (for Slow Convoy). Convoy SC-7 typified the dangers inherent with the Nazi U-boats off the coast of Cape Breton and Newfoundland during the Battle of the Atlantic. Sydney's coal shipping and steel manufacturing were essential ingredients in the Allied victory, however federal Minister of Industry, C.D. Howe favoured Central Canada's steel industry given its proximity to a larger workforce and less exposure to coastal attack. The lack of significant war-time investment in Sydney's steel plant led to its decline after the war from which it was unable to recover.