Partridge Island is a Canadian island located in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

off the coast of

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

, within the city's Inner Harbour. The island is a provincial historic site and was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 1974. It lies on the west side of the mouth of the Saint John River. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, in 1780, six British troops from Major

Timothy Hierlihy Timothy Hierlihy (Heirlehy, Hirolyhy, Hierlehey) (1734–1797) was a British officer who protected the British coal mines at Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia from attacks by American privateers. He also was the first British settler of Antigonish, know ...

's corps, under the command of Lieut. Wheaton, attacked eight American

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

s in a house they were occupying on Partridge island. The British killed three of the privateers and the other five were taken prisoner. Partridge Island was first established as a

quarantine A quarantine is a restriction on the movement of people, animals and goods which is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pests. It is often used in connection to disease and illness, preventing the movement of those who may have been ...

station and

pest house A pest house, plague house, pesthouse or fever shed was a type of building used for persons afflicted with communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox or typhus. Often used for forcible quarantine, many towns and cities had on ...

in 1785 by the Saint John Royal Charter, which also set aside the island for use as a navigational aid station and a military post. Its first use as a quarantine station was not until 1816. A hospital was constructed on the island in 1830.

Immigration and memorials

The island received its largest influx of immigrants in the 1840s during the " Great Famine", also known as the "Irish Potato Famine," when a shortage of potatoes occurred due to

potato blight ''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called "po ...

striking Ireland's staple crop. The famine caused millions to starve to death or otherwise emigrate, mainly to North America. During the famine, some 30,000 immigrants were processed by the island's visiting and resident physicians, with 1,196 dying at Partridge Island and the adjacent city of Saint John during the Typhus epidemic of 1847. During the 1890s there were over 78,000 immigrants a year being examined or treated on the island. A memorial to the Irish immigrants of the mid-1840s was set up on the island in the 1890s, but by World War One it had deteriorated. In 1926 the Saint John City Cornet Band approached Saint John contractor George McArthur who agreed to lead a campaign to build a suitable monument. The

Celtic Cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...

memorial to the Irish dead of 1847 was dedicated in 1927. This was restored and rededicated in 1985. In the early and mid-1980s, memorials were built by the Saint John Jewish Community, the Loyal Orange Lodge, the Partridge Island Research Project, and the Partridge Island & Harbour Heritage Inc., a company that was registered in 1988 and dissolved in 2004. The memorials were dedicated to the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish immigrants buried in the six island graveyards. A monument was also dedicated to all of the Irish dead from 1830 to the 1920s.

History

Partridge Island and Bell Buoy (cropped from postcard)

The island's folklore begins with the Mi'kmaq Nation, who referred to the island as "Quak'm'kagan'ik" meaning "a piece cut out." This name is in reference to the belief that the island was created when

Glooscap Glooscap (variant forms and spellings ''Gluskabe'', ''Glooskap'', ''Gluskabi'', ''Kluscap'', ''Kloskomba'', or ''Gluskab'') is a legendary figure of the Wabanaki peoples, native peoples located in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Atlantic Ca ...

smashed the dam that "Big Beaver" had built. At the Reversing Falls Rapids a piece of the dam was swept in the rush of water to the mouth of the harbour where it came to rest to form the island. This version of the legend dates to the early 20th century. The 19th century version refers to Partridge Island in Minas Basin in Nova Scotia. Following the arrival of the American Loyalists from the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

in 1783, and the formation of the city of Saint John, there was the need for a lighthouse to aid shipping. A light station was erected on Partridge Island and began operating in 1791. It was only the third light station to have been built in

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

. A signal station was soon located on the island and it was used for many years to alert the harbour to vessels approaching from the

. The island's light and signal station were both established in 1791. The island was Saint John's principal military fortification from 1800 until 1947. It was the only Saint John fortification to be used during all periods of Saint John's military activity. There are still visible remains of the Royal Artillery gun battery of 1812, and of both the First and Second World Wars. The island was also home to dozens of island families over the years, from lightkeepers such as Captain Samuel Duffy, James Wilson, Albert Smith, Charles Mitchell and Thomas Furness, to hospital staff such as Doctors George and William Harding, hospital stewards Thomas McGowan, Fred and Jim Hargrove, and teachers for the island's school such as Jean MacCullum and Forbes Elliott. Boat tours to the island operated from 1982 until 1995 when the island's small museum closed. Public access is now restricted. There have been numerous books written about the island as well as video documentaries.

Efforts to reopen the island

Ambitions to turn Partridge Island into a tourist site have been ongoing. In 2014, the federal government set aside $200,000 for a feasibility study which would assess the cost of repairing the breakwater and creating a walkway that would cross to the island as well as annual operation and maintenance costs. The study found that it would cost between $27-$40 million to create a path to the island. Wayne Long, MP for Saint John, has proposed that a wharf be built at the site and that boat tours would go to and from it. Long said in 2017, "The time for action is now" about creating access to the historic island. Long estimates that the wharf would cost only $5 million, which is a sharp reduction from the cost of a walkway. Before opening to the public, a clean-up of the island's significant soil contaminates would have to be done. All of the remaining buildings on the site have been vandalized or burned. Of the six graveyards, the 19th-century graveyard was almost obliterated by the military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Less than three dozen graves remain. Many young people from the local area go to the island, although it is illegal to cross the breakwater.

References

External links

Gateway to Canada
- Heritage Resources Saint John * ''A Chronicle of Irish Immigration to Saint John, New Brunswick, 1847'', Elizabeth Cushing, Teresa Casey, Monica Robertson, 1979. * ''The Diary of Nellie McGowan, Partridge Island Quarantine Station, 1902'', Harold E. Wright, 1984. * ''Fortress Saint John, an illustrated military history, 1640-1985'', Harold E. Wright and Byron O'Leary, 1985. * ''Dr. James P. Collins, a martyr to his duty'', Harold E. Wright, 1988. * ''The Irish in Atlantic Canada, 1780-1900'', Thomas Power, 1991. * ''L'ile Partridge Island, A Gateway to North America/Un passage vers l'Amerique de Nord'', Harold E. Wright, 1995. * Images of Canada, Saint John, Harold E. Wright, 1996. * Images of Our Past, Homeport: Campobello-Saint John-St. Martins, Harold E. Wright & Deborah Stilwell, 2002.
Partridge Island Quarantine Station Collection
McGill University Library & Archives. {{NHSC Coastal islands of New Brunswick Irish diaspora in Canada Quarantine facilities in Canada National Historic Sites in New Brunswick Geography of Saint John County, New Brunswick Landforms of Saint John County, New Brunswick

Immigration and memorials

History

Efforts to reopen the island

See also

References

External links