Horse Islands is the name of a resettled fishing community on one of the two islands that also bears its name, situated off the coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Horse Islands was the scene of a terrific accident of a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

movie gone awry. Horse Islands, located off the tip of the

Baie Verte Peninsula The Baie Verte Peninsula is a large peninsula on the north central coast of the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Baie Verte Peninsula is a geologically complex area on the northwest coast of Newfou ...

, are two islands: Western Island, the smaller of the two, and Eastern Island, about three times the size of the former. They are sometimes referred to as St. Barbe Islands. Western Island does not provide for easy access and never contained any permanent settlement. Its shape is interrupted by long jagged rocks that jut out into the ocean on the north side of the island called Nervous Rocks. The Eastern Island contains the only suitable harbour where fisherman could make landfall and was first settled by the Bath family in 1836. Both islands were densely wooded and provided adequate supply of firewood for its residents. Horse Islands, the settlement, is located on Eastern Island. The settlement of Horse Islands was broken down into two communities: Eastern Harbour and Western Harbour, which were less than one kilometre apart and built on two different inlets, both on the south-central part of Eastern Island. Government records indicate that Western Harbour was settled in the 1850s or early 1860s. Family surnames of the Horse Islands included Andrews, Bath, Burton, Curtis, Greenham, Hynes, Lock, Normore, Rideout, Simms and Toms. The settlement of Horse Islands reached its peak in population in 1956 when it had a population of 215. Shortly after the population fell into decline and in 1966 its residents had agreed to resettle to the mainland

. Most of the residents resettled in the community of La Scie, where they could find adequate housing, social services and employment. Horse Islands became famous during the shooting of a Canadian movie, with financial backing from

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, '' The Viking'', directed by Varick Frissell, a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

filmmaker. The movie was shot aboard the , and it was to feature the lives of Newfoundland Sealers. On 15 March 1931, while the film crew were preparing to shoot background footage, the whole stern of ''Viking'' was blown off by an explosion. ''Viking'' caught fire and sank, killing Frissel and 26 other men. Some of the survivors made the over-ice trek to the Horse Islands, while some were rescued by other vessels dispatched to the area.

References

Islands of Newfoundland and Labrador Populated places in Newfoundland and Labrador {{Newfoundland-geo-stub

See also

References