Chapel Point's Battery Observation Post During World War Two

Chapel Point's Dual Role and the Killing Zone

The close defence batteries at Fort Petrie and Chapel Point were actually staggered in the sense that Chapel is more than a mile inward from the harbour’s western headland at Cranberry. This arrangement was actually beneficial in that Petrie’s scheduled armament of low angle 6 inch guns could easily command the immediate approaches to the harbour. At the same time Chapel’s intended 4.7 inch quick-firing guns could guard the harbour’s mouth and also be swept back into the harbour to target the area in front of the anti-submarine net. The advanced position at Cranberry Head became the location of one of four forward observation posts that filled out the fortress system.

The area in front of the submarine net, surrounded on all sides by the batteries at Chapel Point, Stubbert’s Point, South Bar and the additional battery at Point Edward, was designed to be a killing zone under fire from the four batteries. The combined guns could pour a total of almost 50 rounds per minute of 45 pound 4.7 inch projectiles as well as another 140 rounds per minute of the 6-pounders into this killing zone.

In the spring of 1939, as war in Europe became inevitable, crews from the garrison at Halifax moved a 4.7 inch gun to Chapel Point. The 4.7 inch quick-fire had a range of about 10,000 yards and could fire their 45 pound projectiles at a rate of once every five seconds The gun, shipped by rail to the nearby Jacob rail siding, was installed on a temporary flat concrete platform of quick set cement that had been previously poured for that purpose. This concrete pad is still visible today.

The gun was erected by men of the 36^th Coast Battery based at Sydney Mines and by local laborers. In the following months a wooden shed was built over the gun for protection from the weather if nothing else. This act represented the first of the new coast defence batteries to be brought into a reasonably operational condition before the war started.

Installing The First Temporary Gun - 1939

Plan of a Close Defence Battery

Buried twenty feet underground between the two gun mounts was a shared magazine. It was fortified with a two and half foot thick concrete roof, covered with three feet of packed sand, a four and half foot burster layer, and finally seven and half feet of soil. It was literally built to withstand a direct hit from a heavy naval gun! The two level magazine was accessed indirectly through a pair of staircases from above. Each entry was covered by a sliding steel door. The top level was used for workshops for the artificers or, gun mechanics. The lower level, where the ammunition was kept, was accessed through a sloping tunnel from the lower staircases. Each half of the lower level was equipped with an escape tunnel which led to a vertical shaft near the magazine’s entrances. Ammunition was lifted to the guns on the surface by hydraulic hoists via a shaft that led to the side of each gun mount. The magazine, with its dual staircases leading deep into the underground darkness, is charmingly referred to by locals today as “The 99 Steps of Death”.

This design of the gun emplacements was standard for a close defence battery at that time. In the case of the battery observation post, common principles were applied but there were often differences based on geography, site characteristics and other factors. The battery at Chapel Point, and at Fort Petrie as well, required taller observation posts to accurately target their guns. The three story observation post at Chapel, like that at Petrie, was designed to resemble a church. In addition, the concrete of these battery observation posts was usually formed to resemble wooden timbers and boards. Wood and shingle roofs atop the structures completed the effect. The top two floors of the observation post were fitted with wide view windows across the front and sides.

On the second floor was a directing station where the battery’s searchlights were remotely controlled. Voice tubes like those used on ships connected the two floors. As stated previously, Chapel was the examination battery for the navy and as such, starting in September 1939, the navy stationed signalers who worked alongside the army officers in the battery observation post. The signalers also directed the civilian harbour pilots whose pilot station was set up on nearby Swivel Point on the outside of Lloyd’s Cove.

A Depression Range Finder was Used For Targeting The Guns

A Heavily Built Searchlight Emplacement at nearby Stubbert's Point

Chapel Point’s semi-circular, concrete searchlight emplacements are typical of those constructed along the east and west coasts during the war. Each usually measured 22 feet from front to back and was 16 feet wide with a height of 10 feet. Those that had to be dug into cliff sides had an additional 8 foot compartment at the back where a ladder was placed to climb down into the emplacement. The rounded front of these structures was fitted with sliding steel shutters which were opened to expose the lights.

The lights themselves were 800 million candlepower GE electric searchlights. During 1940, there were two types placed at Sydney, concentrated and dispersed beam. It was the former that were installed at Chapel Point to act as fighting lights for the close defence batteries. These had a maximum effective range of 8,000 yards; double that of the older 36 inch lights installed in 1939.

These lights required a lot of electricity and on the sites where they were located dedicated power houses were constructed. At some sites, like Cranberry, they were above ground whereas at others they were buried underground. The latter was the case at Chapel and the other close defence batteries with the expectation that they were more likely to suffer bombardment by heavier guns. The concrete powerhouses were built according to standard plans and differed only in their dimensions as dictated by the number of lights to be operated. Each was built with pairs of concrete engine mounts placed atop thick concrete shock pads independent of the rest of the structure.

The Inside of the Searchlight Power House at nearby Cranberry Head

The Underground Searchlight Power House

Shafts behind each mount provided fresh air and exhaust was vented through pipes in the ceiling. Each light had its own dedicated diesel-electric generator and each site was equipped with a backup generator as well. This meant that the underground powerhouse for Chapel was equipped with a total of 4 diesel-electric generators. Today this underground powerhouse, with its eight engine mounts arranged in a row like the pews of a church, is known as “The Chapel”.

By the end of 1940 the battery was complete and soldiers and civilians settled into wartime routines. The soldiers drilled and trained and continued with improvements to the fort. Barbed wire, trenches, foxholes and machine gun nests provided security for the site. A regiment of the PEI Highlanders were the  infantry protection at the fort. Sports such as baseball were encouraged among the men and the various batteries competed against each other in league tournaments. The gunners at Chapel had a close relationship with those at Fort Edward who came to Chapel Pont for live fire gun drills because of Edward’s sensitive location inside the net. Firing the guns was serious business as evidenced by one incident in 1940 when a Greek freighter, flying the wrong naval signal flags, was almost sunk by a round from Chapel meant as a warning shot across her bow. The shell itself landed next to the battery at South Bar whose startled gunners were rushing to their posts.

The residents of Sydney Mines opened their hearts and homes to these servicemen, a behavior not uncommon throughout the area. Often the soldiers would train in the very yards of their civilian neighbors. One resident recounts that her mother found two soldiers looking in her window at fresh pies cooling and, feeling sorry for them, she promptly gave them the pies. As for the young ladies of the town, there is no doubt that they were thrilled at the influx of so many young men, much to the chagrin of the local clergy. All said, there is little doubt that the battery in their backyards added excitement to the lives of the residents of the town.

One of the new twin-barreled 4 inch guns at Fort Petrie

The counter bombardment battery at Oxford in nearby Little Pond was nearing completion and the men of the 36^th were selected to mount and man that battery’s guns. Chapel became a staging area for the arduous task of mounting the big guns. The first of the big 9.2 inch arrived in the spring of 1944. The 9.2 inch Mark 15 could fire its 380 pound projectile to a range of 29,000 yards. This equipment weighed over 125 tons, with the barrel alone weighing 25 tons. Seven rail cars were required to transport it. The big gun was moved from the railhead in Sydney Mines to the battery at Oxford by men of the 36^th Battery who set to work installing it.

The second gun arrived in May as the finishing touches were put to the mounting of the first.  The second gun was mounted and in place by the end of the summer. By the following spring Germany was on the verge of collapse and the need for Fortress Sydney was rapidly diminishing. The Batteries at Lingan and South Bar were closed in February 1945. Stubbert’s Point was closed at war’s end. After the war, Fort Oxford and Fort Petrie were maintained as permanent batteries until 1953 and 1956 respectively. By that time coast artillery had been rendered obsolete by missiles and other emerging technologies.

One of the big 9.2 inch guns at Fort Oxford

Chapel's Battery Observation Post with the Temporary Gun Mount in the foreground

In the end, Chapel Point and the other batteries of Fortress Sydney were inevitably stripped of their armaments and equipment and the fortifications left to eventually crumble. Fortunately, across the harbour at Fort Petrie, the close defence battery has been restored and now serves as a Canadian Military Museum. The Sydney Harbour Fortifications Society spearheaded this restoration and now operates the museum. A tour of the battery located in New Victoria is recommended for both old and young alike.

Here ends the story of “The Barracks” at Chapel Point. Over time weather and erosion have taken their steady toll, but still the tower stands, monolithic, reminding us of time when war came to Sydney Mines and the other communities around Sydney Harbour.

Written by: Craig Organ, September 2007