“Canada’s Dualistic Mercantile Heritage: Cape Breton, Louisbourg, and the Merchant Navy Tradition.”

The history of Canada’s merchant marine is not often told. In fact, the merchant mariners of this country are perhaps the most marginalized group of war veterans in our history. For a country so proud of our dual heritage, and strong European ties, why do we relegate such important human elements of our past to the outskirts of present day policy?

Literature on Canada’s merchant naval participation in World War II is scarce, and so too is our historical knowledge of why and how Canada developed deep ties to both Britain and France, specifically through mercantile means. Well before Canada was even an idea, Britain and France struggled over possession of important points along our eastern seaboard. Harbors and fortifications at Sydney, Halifax, and Louisbourg each played pivotal roles in the maritime policy of both nations. The struggle for Atlantic trade was a struggle for power, and possession of Canadian soil, specifically Sydney harbor and Louisbourg, was central to this conflict. Canada’s own naval traditions have been shaped by that heritage.

Very few books cover Sydney, Cape Breton, and Louisbourg in any detail. However, the maritime link between Britain, France and Canada is still clear despite limited scholarship in the field. This link hinges directly upon the changing nature of maritime power in the 18th century. To Gerald Graham; the balance of power was in fact the balance of trade.^{Footnote 1}

What this meant was that key locations like the mouth of the St. Lawrence river (and thus Sydney Harbour and Louisbourg) were in fact militarily important because they were of mercantile significance. The St. Lawrence River gave its controller power over the burgeoning fur trade, but more importantly, it gave access to a massive cross-section of the Canadian geographical interior. Moreover, the cod fishery at Cape Breton (Louisbourg) was then one of the finest in the Atlantic, and you could essentially pick coal out of the cliff-side. ^{Footnote 2} Possession of Louisbourg allowed the French to remain competitive in the Atlantic trade war with Britain, until its subsequent capture in 1758 during the 7 Years War. Britain had by this point established Halifax in 1749 exclusively to counter French power at Louisbourg. ^{Footnote 3} With the French fortifications in their possession, the British conquered Quebec the same year.

The most important lesson of this early Canadian history is that Canada’s eastern seaboard was primarily shaped by Atlantic mercantile power struggles between Britain and France. The emphasis here must be on the primacy of trade as military power. Both Britain and France sought to protect their merchant shipping directly by gaining control of key entrpots along our coast.

These locations, namely Sydney Harbour, Halifax, and the Louisburg forts, would wax and wane in importance over the next 150 years, but would nevertheless remain extremely important to Canada and her allies until after World War II. By understanding how our naval tradition is linked to both Britain’s and France’s, perhaps we can gain a better understanding of why merchant shipping was so important in both World Wars.