Graveyard of The Atlantic - Sable Island

Sable Island

The title "Graveyard of the Atlantic" is also applied to the ever-shifting sandy shoals around Sable Island, which lies off the coast of central Nova Scotia, which have claimed many hundreds of ships over the centuries, of which 475 were recorded since the early seventeen century and by the waters off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This island surrounded by hundreds of shipwrecks is located 160 kilometers off the coast of Nova Scotia. People believe that the island was first discovered by a European man named João Álvares Fagundes who named the island Fagundes. João Álvares Fagundes discovered this island in the 1520s and named it Fagundes, but was shortly changed by the end of the 16th century. A French man came and tried to create a convict colony and succeeded. This French man changed the name of the island to île de Sable, which meant Sand Island. The reason why it was called Sand Island was because the island was 20 miles long and one mile wide of sand. The heights point on the island is only 85 feet tall and has a fresh and salt water lakes and also many fresh water ponds.

The Sable Island history is full of many mysteries, pirates, shipwrecks, and treasures. Ever since people laid eyes on this island many things have happened that can not be explained and some that can be. On this mysterious island there are approximately 300 wild horses with long manes and tails. Part of them are believed to be the survivor of numerous shipwrecks, and some of them were introduced by Rev. Andrew LeMercier. Rev. Andrew was a French Huguenot priest from Boston who was trying to colonize the island in 1738. The horses that are there today are decadence of the ones Rev. Andrew left. The horses that are still there feed of the wild grass and fresh water sources throughout the island. The most famous lake on the island that most of the horses stick around is Lake Wallace. The little ponds and Lake Wallace are now off limit to anyone without a permit from the Canadian Coast Guard. The north beach is steep and narrow, while the south beach is very flat and wide. The island is now a nature reserve filled with many types of wild life, such as the horses, seals, and arctic birds. The island has a very unique bird that only goes there to breed called the Ipswich sparrow. This sand dune island is not the biggest in the world, but is the most dangerous.

Sable Island is far more dangerous then the coast of North Carolina because it is always shifting and does not have a set position in the ocean. It is dangerous for ships because the Labrador Current and the Gulf Current meeting near that island causes very rough waters and thick fog in some cases. When a ship passes by the island the fog, rough water, and radar all have to be in consideration. The reason the rough water is dangerous is because they can be pushed near the island and be ran aground. The rough waters can also cause the ship or boat to sink in some cases. The thick fog also is a dangerous thing to sailors because they can run aground on the shifting Sable Island. Sable Island has been called the fastest moving island in the world, due to the shifting of the plates below it. The reason the radars are a dangerous thing is because the rough ocean current around the island and shift causes the sand on the island to shift and it is constantly changing its contour. The rough weather also causes planes that fly by to crash in to the ocean near by and sometimes surface on the shores of the island after storms. The planes are not the only thing to surface when storms happen, but also parts of ships and mysterious treasure.

After all these shipwrecks on the island, the Canadian Government put in a couple of addition to help ships not run aground. In 1872, the Canadian Government added two lighthouses on each side of the elongated island, which reduced the number of shipwrecks. The last known shipwreck was in 1999. The lighthouses are automated, but the island has a crew there all year, which consist of five meteorologists. Due to the strange location that Sable Island is at, a man named Guglielmo Marconi made it a place for communication. In 1901, Marconi thought this Atlantic island would be a good location for a wireless station for a transatlantic communication spot.