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Now part of Sydney, Barrack Point was so named for the military barracks there. The point was fortified in 1794 and then called Fort Ogilvie.

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In 1794 there was a battery of guns on this point which was then called Pecks Head. The adjacent fort was Fort Dundas.

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Germans Sank 44 Ships In Canadian Waters

In 1942 German U-boats sank 44 ships in Canadian waters with the loss of only two U-boats.

The Germans' richest hunting ground was the Gulf of St. Lawrence. U-69, under the command of Kapitän-Leutnant Ulrich Gräf, sank the 2,245-ton steamship SS Carolus a mere 275 km from Quebec City.

The sub then went searching for a three-ship grain convoy heading for Montreal, but on Oct. 13 spotted the Sydney to Port aux Basques ferry SS Caribou about 96 km off the coast of Newfoundland.

The Caribou carried 73 civilians, including 11 children, and 118 military personnel plus a crew of 46. At 3:40 a.m. a torpedo hit the Caribou and she sank. Of the 239 people aboard, 137 died.

Fifteen-month-old Leonard Shiers of Halifax was the only child to survive.

In February of the following year while attacking a convoy E of Newfoundland, U-69 was sunk by the British destroyer HMS Viscount. The entire sub crew of 46 was killed.

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St. George's Anglican Church is the oldest building in Sydney and the oldest Anglican Church in Cape Breton.

The Gothic Revival stone church was built between 1785 and 1791 by engineers of the British 334 Regiment.

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Sydney Inventor Has Saved Many Lives

It's something that's been taken for granted since 1932 and has likely saved many lives worldwide.

Until metallurgist Irwin Cameron Mackie of Sydney discovered a way to prevent it, railway tracks had developed shatter cracks which often caused them to fail.

Mackie solved the problem by slowing the rate of cooling of newly milled rails and by 1940, most rail producers worldwide were using the Mackie cooling method.

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The World's Largest Fiddle

Prince Edward Island used to claim the World's Largest Fiddle, but Nova Scotia now makes that claim.

PEI's fiddle at Cavendish is 7.3 metres (23.3 feet) high, but the one at Sydney is 16.8 metres (53.7 feet) tall.

The 'Big Ceilidh Fiddle, owned by the Sydney Ports Corporation, was built to attract visitors.

Both of these giants dwarf the 4-metre (12.8 feet) fiddle in Harvey, NB, birthplace of the great Don Messer.

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Mayann Elizabeth Francis

Nova Scotia's 31st Lieutenant-governor Mayann Francis (1946-) of Sydney was director and chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission for seven years before becoming the first woman appointed as provincial ombudsman in 2000.

In 2006 she became the first Black Nova Scotian and second Black Canadian, after Lincoln Alexander of Ontario, to hold the office of lieutenant-governor.