Sable Island
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Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of
Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...
, and about southeast of the closest point 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 ...
in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island is staffed year round by three federal government staff, rising during summer months when research projects and tourism increase. Notable for its role in early Canadian history and the
Sable Island horse The Sable Island horse is a small feral horse found on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a horse phenotype and horse ancestors, and usually dark in colour. The first horses were released on the island in the late 1700s, ...
, the island is protected and managed by Parks Canada, which must grant permission prior to any visit. Sable Island is part of District 7 of the
Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...
in Nova Scotia. The island is also a protected National Park Reserve and an
Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
.


History


Early history

The expedition of Portuguese explorer
João Álvares Fagundes João Álvares Fagundes (born c. 1460, Kingdom of Portugal – died 1522, Kingdom of Portugal) was an explorer and ship owner from Viana do Castelo in Northern Portugal. He organized several expeditions to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 152 ...
explored this region in 1520–1521 and they were among the first Europeans to encounter the island. It is likely that he named the island "Fagunda" after himself. An island called ''Fagunda'' appears on later Portuguese maps placed to the southeast of Cape Breton, fairly near its present location; however, the identification of Sable Island with Fagunda is not certain. On the other hand, 16th-century Portuguese sources describe a fishing colony founded by the navigator in
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...
, further north. It is also possible that Fagundes sighted the island while heading southwest, reaching 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 ...
, as the 1558 map of
Diogo Homem Diogo Homem (1521–1576) was a Portuguese cartographer, son of Lopo Homem and member of a family of cartographers. Due to a crime of murder, in which he was connivent, he was forced to exile from Portugal, first in England, and then in Venice ...
and later
Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...
suggested, but this is unclear. The island was inhabited sporadically by sealers, shipwreck survivors, and salvagers known as " wreckers." Troilus de La Roche de Mesgouez attempted to colonize the new world with convicts in 1598. When the convicts mutinied, they were left on the tree-less and stone-less Sable Island. Most of the settlers died, but a few managed to survive in mud dwellings for 5 years before being returned to France in 1603.


Shipwrecks

Sable Island is famous for its large number of shipwrecks. An estimated 350 vessels are believed to have fallen victim to the island's sand bars. Thick fogs, treacherous currents, and the island's location in the middle of a major transatlantic shipping route and rich fishing grounds account for the large number of wrecks. The first recorded wreck was the English ship in 1583, part of
Humphrey Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert (c. 1539 – 9 September 1583) was an English adventurer, explorer, member of parliament and soldier who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and was a pioneer of the English colonial empire in North America ...
's Newfoundland expedition. There were at least three incidents of ship-wrecks in the 1700s. In 1736, a well-known Presbyterian preacher, the Irish-born Rev. Robert Dunlap (1715–1776), wrecked on the island on his way to America. Decades later, there were two major shipwrecks: In November 1760,
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Robert Elliot (1715–after 1765) of the 43rd regiment was shipwrecked on Sable Island; he was rescued in January 1761. En route to Prince Edward Island under the command of 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, known ...
,
Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
Anthony Kennedy and 25 men wrecked on the island in November 1778. The crew was stranded on the island for the winter. Two died, and the remainder were rescued and transported to Halifax the following April. It is likely that the construction of lighthouses on each end of the island in 1873 contributed to the decrease in shipwrecks. The last major shipwreck was the steamship ''Manhasset'' in 1947. Her crew were all saved, the last significant rescue of the Sable lifesaving station. After the 1991 Perfect Storm, the commercial fishing vessel ''
Andrea Gail F/V ''Andrea Gail'' was a commercial fishing vessel that was lost at sea with all hands during the Perfect Storm of 1991. The vessel and her six-man crew had been fishing the North Atlantic Ocean out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Her last report ...
''s emergency position-indicating radio beacon (
EPIRB An Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB) is a type of emergency locator beacon for commercial and recreational boats, a portable, battery-powered radio transmitter used in emergencies to locate boaters in distress and in need of ...
) was discovered on the shore of Sable Island on November 6, 1991, nine days after the last transmission from the crew. Other items found were fuel drums, a fuel tank, an empty life raft, and some other
flotsam In maritime law, flotsam'','' jetsam'','' lagan'','' and derelict are specific kinds of shipwreck. The words have specific nautical meanings, with legal consequences in the law of admiralty and marine salvage. A shipwreck is defined as the rema ...
. All crew members perished and were never found. No further wrecks occurred until 1999, when the three crew members of the yacht ''Merrimac'' survived after their sloop ran aground due to a navigational error. Few of the wrecks surrounding the island are visible, as they are usually crushed and buried by the sand.


The Nova Scotia Rescue Station

A series of life-saving stations were established on Sable Island by the governor of Nova Scotia, John Wentworth, in 1801. The rescue station began the continuous human presence on the island which continues today. Wentworth appointed James Morris, a Nova Scotian veteran of the British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
as the first superintendent of the island. Morris settled on the island in October 1801 with his family. By the time Morris died on the island in 1809, he had built up the humanitarian settlement to include a central station, two rescue boat stations, several lookout posts and survivor shelters. The station's rescue equipment was upgraded in 1854 with the latest generation of self-bailing lifeboats and life cars through the fundraising efforts of social reformer
Dorothea Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first gen ...
who had visited the island in the previous year.


After Confederation and creation of a weather station

The Island became property of the federal government during Canadian
Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
in 1867, with the Island being specifically referenced in an appendix to the British North America Act. The federal government later added two lighthouses in 1872, Sable Island East End Light (cylindrical skeletal tower built 1980s, replacing earlier iterations from 1873, 1888, 1917 and 1951) the eastern tip and Sable Island West End Light (pyramidal skeletal tower built 1979 replacing earlier towers from 1873, 1903 and 1935) on the western end. Until the advent of modern ship navigation, Sable Island was home to the families of the life-saving crews and the lighthouse keepers. In the early 20th century, the
Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...
established a wireless station on the island and the Canadian government similarly established a weather station. Several generations of island staff were born and raised families of their own on the island, although a decline in shipwrecks gradually reduced the size of the lifesaving community. Only two people have been born on Sable Island since 1920. Improvements in navigation led to a dramatic drop in shipwrecks by the mid 20th century. As such, the rescue station on Sable was reduced and eventually closed in 1958. The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) first automated in the 1960s and eventually decommissioned the West light station in 2004 leaving only the East lighthouse active. However, during this period, the island's role in science grew, first in weather research. The Canadian government expanded the collection of weather data originally started by the rescue station into a full meteorological station operated by Environment Canada and
Department of Fisheries and Oceans Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; french: Pêches et Océans Canada, MPO), is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and sc ...
. The station conducted routine atmospheric and meteorological studies from a permanently occupied station on Sable Island until August 20, 2019. In addition to weather studies, research on the island expanded to a range of ecological and wildlife studies due to its unique position in the Atlantic. Sable Island is specifically mentioned in the
British North America Act 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...
, Part 4, Section 91 as being the special responsibility of the federal government ("...the exclusive Legislative Authority of the Parliament of Canada extends to ..9. Beacons, Buoys, Lighthouses, and Sable Island."). For this reason it is considered a separate
amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...
"entity" (equivalent to a country for award credit), and with visiting operations using the special
callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...
prefix CY0. Because it is a separate radio entity, Sable Island is a popular
Dxpedition A DX-pedition is an expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators and DX listeners, typically because of its remoteness, access restrictions, or simply because there are very few radio amateurs active from that pl ...
destination. Out of concern for preserving the island's frail ecology, all visitors to the island, including recreational boaters, require specific permission from Parks Canada. Sable Island's heliport contains emergency aviation fuel for search and rescue helicopters, which use the island to stage further offshore into the Atlantic. When the
Sable Offshore Energy Project The Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) is a consortium based in Halifax, Nova Scotia which explores for and produced natural gas near Sable Island on the edge of the Nova Scotian continental shelf in eastern Canada. SOEP produced between 400 a ...
was active, the island was designated as an emergency evacuation point for crews aboard nearby drilling rigs. In 2017, Exxon Mobil began the plugging and abandonment of the production wells in the Thebaud field (the
Sable Offshore Energy Project The Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) is a consortium based in Halifax, Nova Scotia which explores for and produced natural gas near Sable Island on the edge of the Nova Scotian continental shelf in eastern Canada. SOEP produced between 400 a ...
wells closest to Sable Island); all facilities were removed by November 2020.


National Park

On October 17, 2011, the Nova Scotia government entered into an agreement with the federal government to eventually protect the Island as a
national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
. The news followed an announcement made by the federal government in May 2010, increasing the level of protection the island receives by transferring control from the Canadian Coast Guard to Parks Canada, which manages the island under the
Canada National Parks Act The ''Canada National Parks Act'' is a Canadian federal law that regulates protection of natural areas of national significance. As of March 2019, the ''Canada National Parks Act'' extended federal protection to 47 national parks and park reserves ...
. The establishment of the park reserve means that the island, and the surrounding area within , cannot be drilled for oil or natural gas. Sable Island became a National Park Reserve on June 20, 2013 with approval of
Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...
stakeholders. Full national park status has yet to be achieved, pending settlement of native land claims. The park is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna including a breed of the unique
Sable Island horse The Sable Island horse is a small feral horse found on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a horse phenotype and horse ancestors, and usually dark in colour. The first horses were released on the island in the late 1700s, ...
. The park is also a breeding ground for marine life. In July 2016, a hike across Sable Island was added to
Google Streetview Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expan ...
. Google worked with Parks Canada to add the interactive views of Sable and five other Canadian National Parks. The imagery was collected in September 2015 by a Parks Canada employee who carried a backpack version of the Street View car camera around an area on the centre of the island, part of Google's Trekker program which explores off-road scenic locations. The route follows a hiking route that Parks Canada staff uses to escort adventure tourists who visit the island.


Geography

Sable Island is a narrow, crescent-shaped
sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...
with a surface area estimated around . Despite being approximately long, it is only across at its widest point. The maximum elevation is about . The long crescent-shaped island rises gently from the shallows of the continental shelf approximately east of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Its location, in tandem with the area's frequent fog and sudden strong storms e.g. hurricanes and
nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...
s, have resulted in over 350 recorded shipwrecks. It is often referred to as ''the Graveyard of the Atlantic'', as it sits astride the
great circle In mathematics, a great circle or orthodrome is the circular intersection of a sphere and a plane passing through the sphere's center point. Any arc of a great circle is a geodesic of the sphere, so that great circles in spherical geomet ...
route from North America's east coast to Europe. The nearest landfall is to the northwest near
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 ...
, Nova Scotia. Sable Island is believed to have formed from a
terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front edge ...
deposited on the continental shelf near the end of the last Ice Age. It is slowly moving as waves erode the western shore and new sand is added on the eastern shore, and continually changing shape through the effects of strong winds and violent ocean storms. The island has several freshwater ponds on the south side between the station and west light; however, in recent years their protecting dune-line has been eroded to such an extent that they are changing from one year to the next. In prior years, a
brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...
lake named Lake Wallace existed in the centre of the south beach. At its largest, it extended for many miles; indeed, during World War II, amphibious aircraft landed on it. Over the years, the lake shrank with an infilling of sand, until in late 2011, it filled in entirely and disappeared. Since the south beach is subject to flooding during fall storms, photos often show water in the area around the former location of Lake Wallace; however, this flooded area is relatively shallow (only a few feet at most) and is not a remnant of the lake. The original lake was of a significant enough depth that even during times when the area was flooded, the lake could be seen in aerial photographs as a darker (deeper) patch in the middle of the flooded area. The island is a part of the Halifax Regional Municipality, the federal electoral district of Halifax, and the provincial electoral district of
Halifax Citadel Citadel Hill is a hill that is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Four fortifications have been constructed on Citadel Hill since the city was founded by the English in 1749, and were referred to as Fort George—but only ...
, although the urban area of Halifax proper is some away on the Nova Scotian mainland.


Climate

Sable Island has a
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Cfb'') using the -3 °C isotherm, with its climate being strongly influenced by the sea. As such, winter temperatures average near freezing while during the summer months, daily maximum temperatures average around . The average annual temperature range in Sable Island is only owing to the influence from the sea compared to at Halifax and in Winnipeg. Generally, February is the coldest month while August is the warmest month. Sable Island averages of precipitation a year, which is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, though October through January are the wettest months due to frequent and intense fall and winter storms. Being located in the path of major frontal storms and tropical cyclones year-round, most of the precipitation comes from these storms. Thunderstorms are rare, with only 11 days with thunderstorms per year. There are frequent heavy fogs in the area due to the contrasting effects of the cold
Labrador Current The Labrador Current is a cold current in the North Atlantic Ocean which flows from the Arctic Ocean south along the coast of Labrador and passes around Newfoundland, continuing south along the east coast of Canada near Nova Scotia. Near Nova Scot ...
and the warm
Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...
: on average there are 127 days out of the year that have at least 1 hour of fog. This makes Sable Island the foggiest place in the Maritimes. The foggiest season is during the summer months where July averages 22 fog days. During the winter, Sable Island has the warmest temperatures in Canada apart from the Pacific coast, and can have the warmest temperatures in the country on some occasions due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. Summers are among the coolest in southern Canada though. It is also the most hurricane-prone part of Canada, also due to the Gulf Stream, and is the only place where Category 3 hurricane-force winds are likely in all of Canada. The highest temperature recorded was on August 27, 1951 while the lowest temperature recorded was on January 31, 1920. According to PlantMaps, Sable Island lies in Hardiness Zone 8a (10 °F–15 °F) for plant hardiness.


Climate change

Being a large low-lying
sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...
, Sable Island is vulnerable to
sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...
. This is further exacerbated by an ongoing increase in storm frequency and intensity caused by
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
, further eroding the island. These factors point toward Sable Island disappearing by the end of the century.


Vegetation and wildlife

Sable Island derived its name from the French word for "sand." It lacks natural trees, being covered instead with
marram grass ''Ammophila'' (synonymous with ''Psamma'' P. Beauv.) is a genus of flowering plants consisting of two or three very similar species of grasses. The common names for these grasses include marram grass, bent grass, and beachgrass. These grasses ar ...
and other low-growing vegetation. In 1901, the federal government planted over 80,000 trees in an attempt to stabilize the soil; all died. Subsequent plantings resulted in the survival of a single
Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...
. Although planted in the 1960s, it is only a few feet tall. It is decorated yearly as a
Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...
in December as part of a tradition among the station staff. The island is home to over 550 free-roaming horses according to a 2016 report, protected by law from human interference. During a 2017–2018 study, the estimated population was 500 horses, up from the roughly 300 recorded in the 1970s. Because of the harsh spring of 2017, the mortality rate was about 10% but the normal rate is about 1% annually, primarily due to starvation and hypothermia. This
feral horse A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated stock. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these ...
population is likely descended from horses confiscated from
Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...
s during the
Great Expulsion The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian peo ...
and left on the island by Thomas Hancock, Boston merchant and uncle of
John Hancock John Hancock ( – October 8, 1793) was an American Founding Father, merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of t ...
. In the early 1800s, many of the horses were used by men patrolling the island, searching for ships in distress, and the animals also moved lifeboats and equipment to sites of shipwrecks. In 1879, 500 horses and cattle were estimated to live on the island, and the island vegetation was described as covered with grass and wild peas. In the past, excess horses were rounded up, shipped off the island, and sold, many used in coal mines on
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...
, Nova Scotia. In 1960, the Canadian Government, under the Canada Shipping Act, gave the horse population full protection from human interference. This was partly motivated by a plan in the 1950s, eventually aborted due to public pressure, to remove the horses from the island, after some biologists reported that they were damaging the ecology of the land. Nonetheless, some continued to view the horses as an invasive species which is not suitable in a protected region where ecological integrity should be preserved according to the National Parks Act. Harbour and
grey seal The grey seal (''Halichoerus grypus'') is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". It is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or " ...
s breed on the island's shores. Seal counts from the 1960s for the grey seal population estimated 200–300 pups born at that time on the island, but surveys from as recent as 2003–2004 estimated the number of pups born in that season at 50,000. The seals are occasionally preyed upon by the various shark species that inhabit the waters nearby. Unusual corkscrew bite wounds on dead seals suggest that the
Greenland shark The Greenland shark (''Somniosus microcephalus''), also known as the gurry shark, grey shark, or by the Kalaallisut name ''eqalussuaq'', is a large shark of the family Somniosidae ("sleeper sharks"), closely related to the Pacific and souther ...
is probably responsible for most attacks here. Several large bird colonies are resident, including the Arctic tern and Ipswich sparrow, a subspecies of the
Savannah sparrow The Savannah sparrow (''Passerculus sandwichensis'') is a small New World sparrow. It was the only member of the genus '' Passerculus'' and is typically the only widely accepted member. Comparison of mtDNA NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and 3 sequ ...
which breeds only on the island. Many other species are resident, migratory, or transient, blown out to sea in storms and returned to land out of their natural range. It was formerly believed the freshwater sponge '' Heteromeyenia macouni'' was found only in ponds on the island. However, it is now considered to be the same species as '' Racekiela ryderi'', found elsewhere.
Rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
s,
cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
, and
goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...
s were also released on the island, with little success, at one point. At one point, there was a
walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped, flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in ...
population on the island, until hunters drove the population to
extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
.


Sable Island Station

The Sable Island Station, managed and staffed by Parks Canada, is the only permanently staffed facility on the island. Climatological record-keeping on Sable Island began in 1871 with the establishment of the
Meteorological Service of Canada The Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC; french: Service météorologique du Canada – SMC) is a division of Environment and Climate Change Canada, which primarily provides public meteorological information and weather forecasts and warnings o ...
, and ran continuously from 1891 until Aug 20, 2019. Sable Island has been the subject of extensive scientific research over the years. The
Meteorological Service of Canada The Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC; french: Service météorologique du Canada – SMC) is a division of Environment and Climate Change Canada, which primarily provides public meteorological information and weather forecasts and warnings o ...
operated a wide range of manual and automated instruments, including the
Automated Weather Observing System Airport weather stations are automated sensor suites which are designed to serve aviation and meteorological operations, weather forecasting and climatology. Automated airport weather stations have become part of the backbone of weather observing ...
, an
aerology Atmospheric science is the study of the Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Climatology is the study of ...
program measuring conditions in the upper atmosphere using a
radiosonde A radiosonde is a battery-powered telemetry instrument carried into the atmosphere usually by a weather balloon that measures various atmospheric parameters and transmits them by radio to a ground receiver. Modern radiosondes measure or calcula ...
carried aloft by a hydrogen-filled weather balloon to altitudes beyond , and a program collecting data on background levels of
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
, which began there in 1974. Research was done to monitor the long-range transport of pollution aerosols. Fog chemistry has also been studied, examining the transport and composition of atmospheric toxins it carries.
Tropospheric The troposphere is the first and lowest layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, and contains 75% of the total mass of the planetary atmosphere, 99% of the total mass of water vapour and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. From ...
ozone was measured and analyzed by researchers in Canada and the United States along with 20 other North American sites. The upper-air aerology program ended on August 20, 2019. The installation of the BGS Magnetic Observatory on Sable Island was funded as a joint venture between the British Geological Survey, Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, and Sable Offshore Energy. The data it collects aid scientific research into rates of change of the Earth's magnetic field and increase the accuracy of the BGS Global Geomagnetic Model. Data from the geomagnetic observatory is used by the offshore energy industry for precise positioning activities such as
directional drilling Directional drilling (or slant drilling) is the practice of drilling non-vertical bores. It can be broken down into four main groups: oilfield directional drilling, utility installation directional drilling, directional boring (horizontal dire ...
. Supplies are delivered to the Sable Island Station approximately twice a month by
Sable Aviation Sable Aviation (legal name Sable Aviation 44 60 Incorporated) is an on-demand aircraft charter company operating from the Gateway Facilities hangar/FBO at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport whose primary role is to provide fixed wing s ...
using a Britten-Norman Islander. Although the island has a heliport (CST5), there is no permanent runway for fixed wing aircraft, which land instead on south beach in an area designated as the
Sable Island Aerodrome Sable Island Aerodrome, , is located on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. The term aerodrome is somewhat of a misnomer since there is no actual airport infrastructure nor is there a runway on Sable Island. The designated landing area is the har ...
(CSB2). Prior permission is required to land, as the area is often unusable due to changing sand conditions.


Sable Island in popular culture

The unique landscape, history of shipwrecks, and wildlife, especially horses, have made Sable Island an iconic place in Atlantic Canada and attracted considerable international following.


In non-fiction

Shipwreck survivors published early survival narratives about their experiences at Sable Island, beginning with the sinking of the ''Delight'' in 1583. The first formal history of the island, ''Sable Island: its History and Phenomena'', was written in 1894 by George Patterson. Many other histories of the island and its shipwrecks have been published since, such as Lyall Campbell's two books – ''Sable Island, Fatal and Fertile Crescent'' in 1974 and ''Sable Island Shipwrecks: Disaster and Survival at the North Atlantic Graveyard'' in 1994 – and more recently, ''A Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins and Curious History of Sable Island'', written in 2004 by
Marq de Villiers Marq de Villiers, is a South African-Canadian writer and journalist. He now chiefly writes non-fiction books on scientific topics. In the past he also worked as a magazine editor and foreign correspondent. Biography Marq de Villiers was born in ...
. In his 1997 book, '' The Perfect Storm'',
Sebastian Junger Sebastian Junger (born January 17, 1962) is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on Dirty,_dangerous_and_demeaning, dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of Light_infantry#United_Sta ...
briefly describes the geography and history of the island. Joshua Slocum describes Sable Island in ''
Sailing Alone Around the World ''Sailing Alone Around the World'' is a sailing memoir by Joshua Slocum in 1900 about his single-handed global circumnavigation aboard the sloop ''Spray''. Slocum was the first person to sail around the world alone. The book was an immediate ...
'' during his 1895 solo circumnavigation.


In fiction

The island has also inspired works of fiction beginning in 1802 when Nova Scotia author
Thomas Chandler Haliburton Thomas Chandler Haliburton (17 December 1796 – 27 August 1865) was a Nova Scotian politician, judge, and author. He made an important political contribution to the state of Nova Scotia before its entry into Confederation of Canada. He was the ...
published "The Sable Island Ghost," a story about a ghostly woman inspired by the loss of the brig ''Francis'' in 1798. His story helped raise support for the establishment of a rescue station on the island. Canadian writer James MacDonald Oxley wrote a youth novel ''The Wreckers of Sable Island'' in 1897.
Frank Parker Day Frank Parker Day (9 May 1881 – 30 July 1950) was a Canadian athlete, academic and author. Since Day's father was a Methodist minister who moved to a new congregation every three years, Day spent his youth living throughout Nova Scotia, living ...
's 1928 novel ''
Rockbound ''Rockbound'' is a novel published in 1928 by Canadian writer Frank Parker Day. Overview The "Rockbound" mentioned in the title is name of small fictitious island inspired by East Ironbound, a remote island near Big Tancook Island off the coast ...
'' features a vivid depiction of the sinking of the
schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
''Sylvia Mosher'' during the 1926 August Gales at Sable Island. One of the island's most notable temporary residents was Nova Scotian author
Thomas H. Raddall Thomas Head Raddall (13 November 1903 – 1 April 1994) was a Canadian writer of history and historical fiction. In his novel ''The Templar Throne,'' published in June 2010, author Paul Christopher mentions the island as the final location of the True Ark of the Christian Old Testament.


In photography

The dunes and horses of Sable Island have drawn many photographers. Among the first was
Arthur Williams McCurdy Arthur Williams McCurdy (April 13, 1856 – 1923) was a Canadian businessman, inventor and astronomer. He was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, the son of David McCurdy and Mary Archibald. He moved to Baddeck, where his father took over the store e ...
who photographed the island, its horses and shipwrecks in 1898 for ''National Geographic'' during a visit with
Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...
. A further ''National Geographic'' visit in the summer of 1964 yielded an article entitled ''Sable Island; Graveyard of the Atlantic''. In more recent times, Roberto Dutesco, a fashion photographer, began taking photos of Sable horses in 1994 and features this work in a permanent photo exhibition entitled "Wild Horses of Sable Island" at his gallery in New York. Nova Scotian photographer Paul Illsley's photographs of Sable Island horses inspired both a Canadian stamp and coin in 2005.


In music

In 1970 Stompin' Tom Connors published his song "Sable Island" in 1970's ''Stompin' Tom Meets Big Joe Mufferaw''. Canadian folk singer Catherine McKinnon recorded a song arranged by Don Gillis also entitled "Sable Island" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1975. The first line of the
Buck 65 Richard Terfry (born March 4, 1972), better known by his stage name Buck 65, is a Canadian alternative hip hop artist. Underpinned by an extensive background in abstract hip hop, his more recent music has extensively incorporated blues, countr ...
song "Blood of a Young Wolf" is "Ten thousand horses, Sable Island, endless summer."


In documentaries

The island has been the subject of many Canadian documentaries by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
and the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
, beginning with the 1956 NFB film ''Sable Island'' by Allan Wargon, the 2003 NFB documentary ''Moving Sands'' by Phillipe Baylaucq, and more recently, an episode of ''
Land and Sea ''Land and Sea'' is a locally produced Canadian documentary television show broadcast on CBC Television. It has been on the air since 1964 on CBC owned-operated station CBNT in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. (interrupted only by a shor ...
''. In 2002 a documentary was released called ''Catching a Killer: The Mystery of Sable Island'' which investigated the possibility that
Greenland shark The Greenland shark (''Somniosus microcephalus''), also known as the gurry shark, grey shark, or by the Kalaallisut name ''eqalussuaq'', is a large shark of the family Somniosidae ("sleeper sharks"), closely related to the Pacific and souther ...
s were to blame for the corkscrew lacerations on dead seals found washed up on the island. The most recent work about Sable Island is the 2015 Canadian-produced film, "S(t)able Island: The Beauty of the Free," created by Rae-Anne LaPlante. The film explores in-depth the wild horse population that has called Sable Island its home for over 250 years. A number of international documentaries have also explored the island, including the 2007 film "Ile de sable" made by Jean-François Ducrocq and Malek Sahraoui for
France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...
, French public television. In 2007, Matt Trecartin of Halifax directed ''Chasing Wild Horses'', a documentary about photographer Roberto Dutesco and his photography of the Sable Island horses.


In other films

In the 1937 film ''
Captains Courageous ''Captains Courageous: A Story of the Grand Banks'' is an 1897 novel by Rudyard Kipling that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the spoiled son of a railroad tycoon, after he is saved from drowning by a Portuguese f ...
'', the fishing boat passes Sable Island on the way to the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwater plateaus south-east of the island of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supporting Atlantic cod, swordf ...
.
Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
's character Manuel later says his father died off Cape Sable. Sable Island is briefly featured in the 2000 feature film ''The Perfect Storm'', which depicts the sinking of the fishing vessel ''Andrea Gail'' near Sable, although the island is erroneously portrayed with trees and a giant stone lighthouse. Sable Island is the setting for the 2002 film ''Touching Wild Horses'' starring
Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was List of English consorts, Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their Wives of Henry VIII, marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen followi ...
; however, little attempt was made to mimic the natural landscape of Sable, with trees and rocks abounding in the background of most every scene. Instead,
Sandbanks Provincial Park Sandbanks Provincial Park is a provincial park located on Lake Ontario in Prince Edward County near Picton, Ontario, Canada. The park is considered one of the best sandy beaches in Ontario and contains the largest bay-mouth barrier dune f ...
in Ontario stood in for the island in the film.


In exhibits

A permanent exhibit about Sable Island is featured at the
Maritime Museum of the Atlantic The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a maritime museum located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The museum is a member institution of the Nova Scotia Museum and is the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada with a collection o ...
in Halifax, which includes two rescue boats from Sable and numerous name boards and
figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a person who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet ''de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that they ...
s from Sable Island wrecks. Another permanent exhibit about Sable Island, exploring its ecology and the on-island researchers' work, is found at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. The horses were featured in a 1994 exhibit at the Equine Museum of Japan in Yokohama.


On radio

On September 11, 2014 Don Connolly of CBC Radio's
Information Morning Information Morning is CBC Radio One's local morning show program for mainland Nova Scotia. It is produced out of the studios of CBHA-FM in Halifax and is simulcast on all CBC Radio One transmitters on mainland Nova Scotia. History ''Informat ...
broadcast part of the daily current affairs program from Sable Island. It was the first ever live public radio broadcast from the island.


See also

* Natural Gas Fields in the Sable Island Area


References


Bibliography

* ''Sable Island'', by Bruce Armstrong, , Doubleday, July 1981 * ''Wild Horses of Sable Island'', by Zoe Lucas, , Firefly Books Ltd., August 1992 * ''Wild and Beautiful Sable Island'', Pat Keough et al., , Green Publishing, September 1993 * ''Sable Island Journals 1801–1804'', by James Rainstorpe Morris, , January 2001 * ''Ethos of Voice in the Journal of James Rainstorpe Morris from the Sable Island Humane Station, 1801–1802'', by Rosalee Stilwell, , Edwin Mellen Press, January 2001 * ''Free as the Wind: Saving the Horses of Sable Island'', text by Jamie Bastedo, illustrations by Susan Tooke, Red Deer Press, 2007


External links


Sable Island Institute
(formerly th
Sable Island Green Horse Society

Aircraft Charter to Sable Island

Sable Island - Satellite View - Google Maps


a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada
Friends of Sable Island Society
(formerly Sable Island Preservation Trust)
Ships of War lost on the Coast of Nova Scotia and Sable Island, during the Eighteenth Century
(Note: the Major Elliott of the 43rd Regiment of Foot survived a 1760 shipwreck – see below)
Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History: Sable Island - An Island of Sand

The Wild Horses of Sable Island Gallery
(photos by Roberto Dutesco)




Sable Island National Park Reserve
{{authority control Maritime history of Canada Landforms of Halifax, Nova Scotia Islands of Nova Scotia Protected areas of Nova Scotia Registered aerodromes in Nova Scotia Landforms of Halifax County, Nova Scotia National parks in Nova Scotia Important Bird Areas of Nova Scotia Ship graveyards