Sable Island

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Sable Island
other_name = "île de Sable"
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settlement_type = Station
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image_caption = Island from Space Shuttle, April 1994. Oriented clockwise through 225 degrees. i.e. north is in the lower left corner.


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = CAN
subdivision_type1 = Province
subdivision_name1 = NS
subdivision_type2 = Municipality
subdivision_name2 = Halifax Regional Municipality
subdivision_type4 = District
subdivision_name4 = 13
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established_title = Founded
established_date = 1521
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area_footnotes = (Island)
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timezone = AST
utc_offset = -4
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latd= 43|latm= 57|lats=0 |latNS= N
longd= 59|longm= 54|longs= 57|longEW= W
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Sable Island (French: "île de Sable") is a small Canadian island situated 180 km southeast of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2008, the island is home to around 5 people, 4 Environment Canada Station personnel and one resident researcher, but in summer, this number swells to include seasonal contractors, research scientists, photographers, etc. Sable Island is protected under the Canada Shipping Act, which means that permission must be obtained from the Canadian Coast Guard to visit the island. Sable Island is part of District 13 of the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia.

Geography

Sable Island is a narrow crescent-shaped sandbar with a surface area of about 34 km². Despite being nearly 42 km long, it is no more than 2 km across at its widest point. It emerges from vast shoals and shallows on the continental shelf which, in tandem with the area's frequent fog and sudden strong storms including hurricanes and northeasters, have caused over 350 recorded shipwrecks. It is often referred to as "the Graveyard of the Atlantic", as it sits astride the great circle route from North America's east coast to Europe. The nearest landfall is 160 kilometres to the northwest near Canso, Nova Scotia.

Sable Island was named after its sand—"sable" is French for “sand”. It is covered with grass and other low-growing vegetation. In 1901, the federal government planted over 80,000 trees on the island in an attempt to stabilize the soil; all died. Sable Island is believed to have formed from large quantities of sand and gravel deposited on the continental shelf near the end of the last ice age. The island is continually changing its shape with 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 and a brackish lake named Lake Wallace near its centre.There are frequent heavy fogs in the area due to the contrasting effects of the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream. During winter months, the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream can sometimes give Sable Island the warmest temperatures in Canada.

Sable Island should not be confused with Cape Sable Island in southwestern Nova Scotia.

Wildlife

The island is home to over 300 free-roaming feral horses which are protected by law from human interference. The best evidence for the origin of the horse population is that they are descended from horses confiscated from Acadians during the Great Expulsion and left on the island by Thomas Hancock, Boston merchant and uncle of John Hancock.

In the past, excess horses have been rounded up and shipped off the island for use in coal mines on Cape Breton Island, or to be sold, but the Government gave full protection to the horse population in 1960, and they have been left alone ever since. No human is allowed to interfere with any of the island's wildlife because it is a wildlife preserve and is protected by the Canadian government.

Harbour and Grey seals also 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 [ [http://www.greenhorsesociety.com/Seals/Seal_Survey.htm Sable Island: Photographic Survey of Grey Seal Pups (Feb 2004)] ] . The seals are occasionally predated by the various shark species that inhabit the waters nearby, including the Great White Shark [ [http://www.greenhorsesociety.com/sharks/shark_predation.htm Shark Predation on Sable Island Seals (July 2008)] ] .

Several large bird colonies are also resident, including Arctic terns and Ipswich sparrows ("Passerculus sandwichensis princeps"). The latter, a subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow, breeds only on Sable Island. Many other species of birds are found on the island - some are intentional visitors, migratory or otherwise, but some are simply small birds that have been blown out to sea in violent storms and have been fortunate enough to find themselves on dry land again.

There is also a species of freshwater sponge ("Heteromeyenia macouni") found only in ponds on the island.

History

The Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes and his expedition, who explored this region in 1520–1521, may have been among the first Europeans to have encountered the island. A life-saving station was established on Sable Island by the government of Nova Scotia in 1801 and its life-saving crew became the first permanent inhabitants of the island, a brief attempt at colonization at the end of the 16th century by France having failed. Two lighthouses, one on the eastern tip and one on the western tip were built in 1872. [E.H. Rip Irwin. Lighthouses and Lights of Nova Scotia, Nimbus Press, pages 100-102 ] Until the advent of modern ship navigation, Sable Island's two light stations were home to permanent lighthouse keepers and their families, as well as the crewmembers of the life-saving station. In the early 20th century, the Marconi Company established a wireless station on the island and the Canadian government similarly established a weather station.

Although the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) has now automated the light stations, Environment Canada and DFO conduct routine atmospheric and meteorological studies from a permanently occupied station on Sable Island because of its unique isolated geographic position down-wind from the North American mainland. Sable Island is specifically mentioned in the Constitution of Canada of 1867 as being the special responsibility of the federal government. For this reason it is considered a separate amateur radio "entity" (equivalent to country for award credit) and the occasional operators who visit use the special callsign prefix CY0.

Out of concern for preserving the island's frail ecology, as well as sovereignty purposes, recreational boaters require specific permission from CCG to set foot on the island. The Canadian Forces continuously patrol the area using aircraft and naval vessels, partly due to the nearby presence of natural gas and oil drilling rigs and an undersea pipeline. Sable Island's heliport also contains emergency aviation fuel for search and rescue helicopters, which use the island to stage further offshore into the Atlantic. Should the need arise, the island also serves as an emergency evacuation point for crews aboard nearby drilling rigs of the Sable Offshore Energy Project.

The island is a part of the Halifax Regional Municipality, the federal electoral district of Halifax, and the provincial electoral district of Halifax Citadel, although the urban area of Halifax proper is some 300 km or 190 mi away on the Nova Scotian mainland.

hipwrecks

Sable Island is famous for the 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 in 1583, the last in 1999. [ [http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/AtoZ/Sable.html Maritime Museum of the Atlantic Sable Island Shipwreck & Lifesaving Web Page] ] Few wrecks are visible on the island as the ships are usually crushed and buried by the sand. [ [http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/sableisland/english_en/history_hi/graveyard_gr/treasures_gr.htm "Graveyard of the Atlantic", "Sable Island" Digital Collection, Industry Canada] ] The large number of wrecks have earned the island the nickname "Graveyard of the Atlantic", although the phrase is also used to describe Cape Cod and the Outer Banks area of North Carolina.

able Island Station

is measured and is analyzed by researchers in Canada and the USA along with 20 other North American sites.

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 collected at the observatory 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 are used by the offshore energy industry for precise positioning activities such as directional drilling.

Notes

Trivia

* Sable Island is mentioned in the book "The Perfect Storm" (the 1991 Halloween Nor'easter) and a staged version of the island appears in the movie by the same name. The swordfishing boat "Andrea Gail", the main focus of the film, is believed to have gone down somewhere near Sable Island in 100'+ storm waves. The 406-Megahertz EPIRB emergency beacon identified as belonging to the "Andrea Gail", was found washed ashore on Sable Island on either November 5 or November 8, 1991, according to different sources.

* Nova Scotian author Thomas H. Raddall's early experiences on Sable Island served as the inspiration for his novel "The Nymph and the Lamp". [http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/trela/letters/6allen23nov77.htm]

* In the 2006 Canadian federal election media coverage, the Canadian Press reported a 100% voter turnout for Sable Island, with six ballots from all six permanent residents retrieved by the returning officer via Coast Guard helicopter.Fact|date=February 2007

Bibliography

* "Sable Island Shipwrecks: Disaster and Survival at the North Atlantic Graveyard" by Lyall Campbell, Nimbus pub., ISBN 1-55109-096-1, December 2001
* "Ethos of Voice in the Journal of James Rainstorpe Morris from the Sable Island Humane Station, 1801-1802", by Rosalee Stilwell, ISBN 0-7734-7663-6, Edwin Mellen Press, January 2001
* "Sable Island", by Bruce Armstrong, ISBN 0-385-13113-5, Doubleday, July 1981
* "Wild Horses of Sable Island", by Zoe Lucas, ISBN 0-919872-73-5, Firefly Books Ltd., August 1992
* "Wild and Beautiful Sable Island", Pat Keough et al., ISBN 0-9692557-3-X, Green Publishing, September 1993
* "Sable Island Journals 1801-1804", by James Rainstorpe Morris, ISBN 0-9689245-0-6
* "A Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins and Curious History of Sable Island", by Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle, ISBN 0-7710-2642-0, McClelland & Stewart, August 2004
* "Free as the Wind – Saving the Horses of Sable Island", text by Jamie Bastedo, illustrations by Susan Tooke, Red Deer Press, 2007

External links

* [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/sos/shipwrecks/ Tales of Tragedy and Triumph: Canadian Shipwrecks] , a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada
* [http://www.greenhorsesociety.com/ Sable Island Green Horse Society]
* [http://www.sabletrust.ns.ca/ Sable Island Preservation Trust]
* [http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/halew/Wrecks.html Ships of War lost on the Coast of Nova Scotia and Sable Island, during the Eighteenth Century]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=35456&query= A Sable Island Shipwreck survivor] {reference only}
* [http://www.dutescoart.com/gallery/sablehorses/ Pictures of Sable Island Horses]
* [http://www.tc.gc.ca/acts-regulations/GENERAL/C/csa/regulations/300/csa302/csa302.html#GENERAL Sable Island Regulations]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=44,-60&spn=0.11,0.18&t=h Sable Island - Satellite View - Google Maps]
* [http://www.cy0x.com CY0X - Sable Island 2008 6m and 2m DXpedition]
* [http://www.library.dal.ca/archives/raddall/Sable%20Island%20Main.htm Thomas H. Raddall Photo Subjects: Sable Island]