Chedabucto Bay is a large bay on the eastern coast of mainland

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

between the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and the Strait of Canso next to

Guysborough County Guysborough County is a county in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History Taking its name from the Guysborough, Nova Scotia, Township of Guysborough, which was named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, 1st B ...

. At the entrance to Chedabucto Bay is the community of

Canso The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) is a representative body of companies that provide air traffic control. It represents the interests of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). CANSO members are responsible for supporting ov ...

at the head is the community of

Guysborough Guysborough (population: 397) is an unincorporated Canadian community in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. Located on the western shore of Chedabucto Bay, fronting Guysborough Harbour, it is the administrative seat of the Guysborough municip ...

and on the other end is the town of Mulgrave.

Geography

Chedabucto Bay was formed by the drowning of part of an ancient river system and owes its origin and shape to position of the

Chedabucto Fault The Chedabucto Fault is a Fault (geology), fault that divides Mainland Nova Scotia from the Minas Basin in the west to Chedabucto Bay in the east into the Avalonia, Avalon zone in the north and the Meguma Zone in the south. The Avalon and Meguma ter ...

, which runs across central Nova Scotia from 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 ...

to the Canso peninsula.

History

Colonial

Merchants in

La Rochelle, France La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

enjoyed a fishing monopoly in

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...

and formed the Company of Acadia which established a small fortification on Chedabucto Bay named Fort St. Louis. The principal ports were at Chedabucto, which accounted for fifty fishers in 1686. In 1690, Captain Cyprian Southack proceeded to Chedabucto to take Fort St. Louis at the present-day village of

which, unlike

Port-Royal Port Royal is the former capital city of Jamaica. Port Royal or Port Royale may also refer to: Institutions * Port-Royal-des-Champs, an abbey near Paris, France, which spawned influential schools and writers of the 17th century ** Port-Royal A ...

, put up a fight before surrendering.< The company encountered a variety of difficulties on the way to its final disappearance in 1702.

Modern

On Wednesday, February 4, 1970 the

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

n-registered tanker ''Arrow'' ran aground on Cerberus Rock with a cargo of barrels of

Bunker C Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

fuel and split in two. A large oil spill contaminated the waters of the bay as well as of the shoreline.Environment Canada
Liberian Tanker Arrow
However, ever since the oil was largely cleaned up by both Human cleanup crews and natural processes, the sunk Tanker has proven to be largely positive for the local wildlife- providing sanctuary for many sea creatures and a home for a vast variety of aquatic plant life.

References

{{Coord, 45, 23, 33.59, N, 61, 18, 13.36, W, region:CA-NS_scale:1000000, name=Chedabucto Bay, display=title Bays of Nova Scotia Landforms of Guysborough County, Nova Scotia Conflicts in Nova Scotia