Dartmouth Patriot, 22 June 1901 Edition
 
 

No. 8
 

We must take up next the Sherbrooke Tower on Meagher's Beach. This tower is similar to those which used to be at Fort Clarence, George's island and Point Pleasant. It is a structure of immense weight, the walls being 7 feet in thickness and the floor the same thickness. It was started in 1814 but was never used for military purpose, to my knowledge. It is constructed on the very end of the Beach. Its exterior is composed of granite, its interior of brick. In the centre is a column six feet in diameter. It gradually forms half an arch which is met by another half formed by the outer wall. There is thus an arch of the same height and breadth throughout. This is on the ground floor where the engine now stands which operates the fog alarm. Below is the old magazine. Above is another storey and topping it all is the lighthouse tower put on in 1828. This is apart from its military history to which I will return. On the second floor is still to be seen the three pivots for the guns. One gun was to point seaward, another up the harbour and the third has a circular foundation for the rails which would allow the gun to command the Beach or any other special direction desired. On the ground floor there was room for 4 guns. These were never mounted. There is a copper plate about 12 x 18 inches in size fastened to the wall inside the building which gives the history and description of the tower in a nutshell. I give a copy of it here:-
 
 

Board of Ordnance.
 
 

Particulars of this Building.

F. In.

(Diameter (At Bottom 50 "

( (At Top 48 4

Dimensions (

(Height 32 7

Sterling

(Estimated £5889, 11, 9

Expense (Actual Cost £4954, 12, 1

(Commencement April, 1815

Date of (Completion 30th. June 1828
 
 

Colonel Nicolls, Com. R. Engineers.
 
 

How many public buildings are built now that cost 18 or 20 per cent less than the estimated cost? 20 per cent above the estimated cost is more generally the rule.

Fort McNab, situated above the land end of Meagher's Beach was started in 1889. In this fort is a graveyard, the property of the McNabs. It is neatly fenced and well looked after. The cemetery is the last resting place of "Governor" McNab, ________ Culleton and others. Its headstones present a strange appearance in a fort. This fort like the others is a quick-firing battery. In it is mounted a 32 ton gun which has the range of the harbour from headland to headland.
 
 

A small quick firing battery a few hundred yards from Ive's Point Battery was built immediately after the completion of Fort McNab.
 
 

The Hugonin Battery was built in 1899 and 1900. It is, like Ive's Point Battery and Fort McNab, garrisoned by a detachment of the Royal Artillery.

A peculiar circumstance concerning the forts on the Island and those on George's Island and Eastern Passage is worthy of being recorded. A soldier once told me that all the magazines in Imperial forts were built in the shape of a coffin. I do not know if this is a fact but I do know that most of the forts in the harbour are built on the sites of burial ground or very near them. There may have been one or many persons buried at these places but the fact remains that the forts are built on their resting places.

On George's Island the French Admiral commanding the great fleet of D'Anville after his death was buried. Fort Charlotte occupies the site of his grave. At Fort Clarence was a large French or Indian cemetery which was disturbed when the fort was remodelled about 35 years ago. Coming to the Island we find Fort McNab on the site of McNab's graveyard. Ives Point Battery is very near the place where many of the cholera victims were buried in 1866. Then the Hugonin Battery is on the spot where the steward of the S.S. "England" was buried. The poor fellow's remains were allowed to remain and are under the road now.

The Island has two rifle ranges on it, one used by the sailors and the other by the soldiers. Many other interesting facts might be given about the works on the Island, but I have said sufficient for the present.

Having given the history of McNab's Island I will correct a few mistakes which inadvertantly crept into my narrative; and also a few facts which should have been inserted in their proper places. I do this because I understand some persons are keeping the articles for future reference. Consequently I wish to have the account correct.

In paper No. 1 the heading is obviously wrong, for I stated in the text that the island was named for Governor Cornwallis, not the Cornwallis brothers.

The 2,000,000 areas mentioned in the paragraph should read 2,000,000 acres.

In paper No. 4 I might have stated that the appearance of Meagher's Beach has greatly changed during the past century. Fifty years ago, grass grew on the Beach and hay was taken from it. The Beach extended some distance beyond the tower and was quite elevated. Now the whole beach is void of vegetation and if were not protected by breakwaters it would soon be washed away. The tower itself is now on the extreme end of the Beach and is kept secure only by an almost complete circle of breastworks filled in with rocks.

In paper No. 5 I omitted the name of Andrew Henneberry in my list of the Island's old inhabitants. Mr. Henneberry lived about the beginning of the 19th century, next John Cooney. The place is still called "Henneberry's Fields." He moved from the Island to Stoney Beach on the eastern mainland and from that place to Devil's island.

[A man named Doyle lived on a point on the southern end of the Island, still called from him, Doyle's Point.]

"Governor or Peter McNab had a brother who commanded a company in the old Newfoundland Regiment.

"Squire" Little's christian name was John. He lived on the place at one time inhabited by Peter, son of "Governor McNab." He was, before the incorporation of Halifax, its chief magistrate.

A typographical error in the fifth paragraph of paper No. 5 makes the number of sheep on the island 50 instead of 550.

My reference to Hugonin and Lyttleton were considerably mixed up. I will restate the facts. The island passed from the hands of Governor McNab to his heirs. Lieut. Hugonin and Captain Lyttleton both of the 64 Regiment and both sons-in-law of the Governor's son. Hon. James McNab afterwards got possession of part of the island. Lyttleton owned the southern half which was bought from him by the Imperial Government. Hugonin owned a strip through the centre of the island from shore to shore. Other heirs of Peter McNab owned the northern part of the island. [My next paper will conclude the history of the Island after which I will take up Devil's Island.]
 

(To be Continued.)