Aspy Bay () is a bay of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

near the northern tip of

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. Principal features along the bay's coast are the Wilkie Sugar Loaf hill and the Aspy Fault. Communities along the bay include Smelt Brook, White Point, South Harbour, and

Dingwall Dingwall (, ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north ...

. The name "Aspy" is

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

in origin, after Aspe Peak in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

, or the monastery of Santa Maria de Axpe near the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

; there are however other theories, regarding the origin of the name. p. 288 A surviving French chart found at the ''Depot General des Dartes'' in France and dated 1780 refers to the area as "Aspe". Records dating from the earlier 1700s identify the area as Egmont Bay, with a mostly French fishing fleet of 30

shallop Shallop is a name used for several types of boats and small ships (French ''chaloupe'') used for coastal navigation from the seventeenth century. Originally smaller boats based on the chalupa, the watercraft named this ranged from small boats a ...

s stationed there. At the time the first permanent settlers arrived, mostly

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

, the area was known as Wegwaak, meaning "Turning Suddenly" in

Miꞌkmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

History

There is a minority view that

John Cabot John Cabot ( ; 1450 – 1499) was an Italians, Italian navigator and exploration, explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England, Henry VII, King of England is the earliest known Europe ...

landed in or near Aspy Bay in 1497,which would be the first documented European landing on what is now Canadian soil, after the Norse landings. In keeping with this view, Cabots Landing Provincial Park along the western shore of the bay has a National Historic Site cairn and bust to commemorate Cabot's landfall. At Aspy Bay and nearby Bay St. Lawrence, cod, mackerel, and dogfish were caught by the early settlers. Merchants would arrive and these fish would be largely sold to buyers in Halifax and to inland farmers. The unpredictable weather and rugged coastline of large portions of the bay and nearby St. Paul Island contributed to several marine tragedies as the area was being charted and settled. In 1761 the sailing ship '' Auguste'' sank in Aspy Bay, with the loss of 114 lives. Many notable Canadians died during the sinking, including Charles-René Dejordy de Villebon,

Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye (9 November 1717 – 15 November 1761) was a French Canadian fur trader and explorer. He, his three brothers, and his father Pierre La Vérendrye pushed trade and exploration west from the Great Lakes. He, hi ...

, and

Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne (June 6, 1703 – November 15, 1761) was a Canadian-born military officer and merchant. He was born at Fort Frontenac in what is now Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and began his career in the colonial regular ...

. The

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Ol ...

''St. Lawrence'', sailing from

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, was shipwrecked near Chéticamp on December 5, 1780, and her crew came ashore and were stranded. Lieut. Prentiss, the officer in charge, took a boat and went in search of inhabitants. Proceeding northward they found the coast very rugged and high, and after weeks of subsisting on boiled kelp and roots, they rounded Money Point and before long came ashore on the sandy beaches of Aspy Bay near present-day Dingwall. Exhausted, frozen, and with all provisions gone, the desperate men made camp and cast lots with the aim of choosing one of their number to sacrifice as food for the rest. The discovery of some edible

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

buds the following morning provided enough food to prevent the survivors from following through on their grim plan. The group was eventually saved by a party of local

natives There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

who told them a tale of another French vessel which was wrecked in Aspy Bay with great loss of life a few years prior. The Indians recalled bringing the bodies of drowned French children ashore on the sands of Aspy Bay, and later finding and assisting the survivors who had suffered tremendously from cold and hunger for five days. This is not believed to have been the ''Auguste'', as that ship was carrying French prisoners. The first European settlers in the area reported finding a very large skull. The teeth were said to resemble those of a human in all respects but size. One tooth was sent to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

by ship for examination and was recorded to measure eight inches in length and four inches in width. A legend prevailed among natives who hunted in the area regarding an immense creature unlike any known animal. According to this legend, the creature had been observed in the waters of Aspy Bay and observers had been so terrified that they would not dare approach the area again for some time. Other reports from early settlers speak of observing huge bones, resembling thigh bones, lying at the bottom of a nearby lake. There have been no credible sightings in modern times. In 1856 the Nova Scotia terminus of the

Transatlantic telegraph cable Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is a largely obsolete form of communication, and the cables have long since been decommissioned, but telephone and dat ...

was made at the small community of Aspy Bay, northwest of Dingwall. Wilkie Sugar Loaf South Lookoff

References

External links

About Aspy Bay
{{Coord, 46, 57, 11.76, N, 60, 24, 00.00, W, display=title Landforms of Victoria County, Nova Scotia Bays of Nova Scotia