Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic Wars

J.L. Granatstein, distinguished research professor emeritus of history
at York University. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and
co-author of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Influential Canadians of the
20th Century, Prime Ministers: Ranking

This is an excellent book, a detailed study of the strategic importance
of Sydney, Nova Scotia, through history. To say “strategic
importance” and Sydney in the same breath might make some people
giggle, but Canada’s East Coast has always had strategic importance,
and Sydney, at least as much as Halifax, has played a critical role.
Tennyson, a historian at University College of Cape Breton, and Sarty,
deputy director of the Canadian War Museum and Canada’s leading naval
historian, were a good duo to write the book. Tennyson had the local
knowledge, and Sarty the command of the records, extraordinary energy,
and skill as a writer to make this a first-rate volume.

What made Sydney important was its geographical position commanding the
Gulf of St. Lawrence and its coal deposits. This made it critical in the
age of sail and steam, and by the time of the two world wars, Sydney’s
steel mills made it a target worth striking and, therefore, one that had
to be defended. Moreover, we tend to assume that Halifax was the only
Canadian convoy port, but Sydney also served in that role and was home
to air and naval forces fighting the German U-boats. The authors treat
the roles of all three services in the long sections dealing with the
20th-century struggles, and this book covers everything in a judicious
amount of detail. Moreover, the Sydney story is set into the Canadian
and Allied context, making this a model monograph.