Sherbrooke Tower
Construction on Sherbrooke Tower began in April 1814 under Colonel Gustavus Nicolls CRE Halifax. It was the last of five Martello Towers to be built to defend Halifax.
The tower was located at the tip of Maugher Beach, a point of land extending from McNab’s Island westward towards the main entrance channel to Halifax Harbour. The most exposed of the five Martello towers, it was named for Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, who was the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1811 to 1816, most notably during the War of 1812 (1812-15). The fortification was conceived as an elevated gun platform to cooperate with the battery at York Redoubt to engage and prevent enemy shipping from gaining entrance to the harbour. It was the first defensive fortification to be constructed on McNab’s Island, and remained the only one on the island until Ives Point Battery was built in the late 1860s.
Sherbrooke Tower was constructed of squared granite facing outside of brick and was designed from the start to be bombproof, with strengthened, arched ceilings. Also, it represented the first definite instance of granite being used for building construction in Halifax, transported by barge to the site from the government quarry at Purcell’s Cove. Due to the increased expense of using granite, Nicolls’ CRE successor, Lieutenant Colonel George Wright was forced to pause construction after the second story was completed in September 1815, to await further funding approval from London. This coincided with the end of the War of 1812 and so further expenditure approval was not forthcoming, and the tower lay incomplete for the next decade.
In 1825 Britain launched the Smythe Commission to evaluate existing British defences in North America in light of heightened tensions with the United States. Among the Commission’s recommendations regarding Halifax was that Sherbrooke Tower be completed. Construction therefore resumed in 1826; at which time it was decided to build a lighthouse on top of the tower as an aid to navigation. The lighthouse commenced operation on 1 April 1828 and Sherbrooke Tower was completed three months later, at the end of June 1828.
The tower had a diameter of 50 feet (15 metres) at the base, tapering slightly to 48 feet 6 inches at the top; it stood 32 feet 7 inches (10 metres) tall and the walls were 7 feet 6 inches (over 2 metres) thick at the base. The ground floor housed the magazine and a water tank; the middle floor contained four 24-pounder carronades fired through portholes for close defence; and the terreplein or roof mounted three longer range 24-pounder smooth bore cannons on racers, firing over the parapet. The middle floor provided accommodations for the Commanding Officer and the lighthouse keeper; its ceiling was vaulted for protection against plunging shells from high angle guns, and a supporting pillar ran up the centre of the tower. A wooden structure supported by a central kingpost was built above the terreplein to shelter the 24-pounder guns from the elements and to accommodate the lighthouse while leaving the cannons unobstructed, effectively creating an enclosed “third floor.” The lighthouse was subject to removal for military purposes as necessary. The overall height of the structure was 39 feet (12 metres).
In 1851 the lighthouse was used for testing a new type of fuel, kerosene, invented by Nova Scotian physician and geologist Abraham Gesner to replace whale oil.
With the advent of heavy rifled guns in the 1860s Martello towers became militarily obsolete, as they could not withstand the powerful barrage of shells. Sherbrooke Tower was stripped of ordnance by 1865 however, as it incorporated a lighthouse it endured long afterwards in that capacity. A fog signal was added in an adjacent building in 1889, and various sheds, boathouses and other support buildings accumulated over the years. A severe storm during the winter of 1931 demolished a portion of the outer wall of the tower, and it was finally dismantled in 1945 after a new lighthouse was built nearby. During the Second World War (1939-45) an anti-submarine barrier stretched from Maugher Beach to the opposite shore at York Redoubt. The existing lighthouse at Maugher Beach dates to 1941, and was designated a Recognized Federal Heritage Building in 2007.
References:
Harry Piers. The Evolution of the Halifax Fortress 1749-1928 (Halifax: The Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 1947)
A.J.B. Johnston. Defending Halifax: Ordnance, 1825-1906 (Ottawa, Parks Canada 1981)
Ivan J. Saunders. The History of Martello Towers in the Defence of British North America, 1796-1871. Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 15. (Ottawa, Parks Canada 1976)
The Friends of McNab’s Island Society website (https://mcnabsisland.ca)
Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society website (https://nslps.com)