Melville Island Prison - Northwest Arm

Melville Island, which is now a yacht club, is located in small cove on the mainland side near the head of the Northwest Arm.  The British purchased the island in Melville Cove in 1804 for ₤1,000 with the intention of building a military prison; it was named for Viscount Melville who was Lord of the Admiralty at the time.  The main prison buildings were destroyed by fire in 1936, but over the years the prison held French and American prisoners of war from the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, British military prisoners and even German prisoners of war during the First World War.  When prisoners died, they were buried on a nearby small peninsula of land that came to be known as Deadman's Island.  When numbers swelled, prisoners were also kept on floating hulks just off Melville Island.

For the years immediately following the Napoleonic Wars, Thomas Raddall reported:  "Haligonians young and old visited the prison on Melville Island frequently to see the foreigners at work, to purchase the little bone ship models and souvenirs (produced by the prisoners) which at one time graced every Halifax mantlepiece, to take music or dancing lessons, or to polish their drawing-room French."  The webmaster would recommend Raddall's novel, Hangman's Beach, for an interesting depiction of life in Halifax at that time, including life at Melville Island prison.  He reports that prisoners were told that the waters of the Northwest Arm were shark-infested in order to greatly reduce the chance of them attempting escape.