Sable Island – The True "Graveyard of the Atlantic" Lies in Canada's Backyard
- Richard Crowder
- Aug 28
- 8 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
From the French, Ile de Sable means Island of Sand. This crescent-shaped 26-mile (42 km) sandbar near the edge of the Continental Shelf is 180 miles (290 km) east of Halifax, Nova Scotia -- sitting alone in the Atlantic Ocean.
Politically, Sable Island belongs to Canada and is considered a part of the Region of Halifax. But, at less than a mile wide (1.3 km) at its widest point and only 98 feet (30 m) high depending on the shifting sands, it is renowned as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Some 350 ships have foundered and wrecked on this little island -- the first recorded being the English ship Delight in 1583.
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Now, hold on just one minute before you contact BoatBlurb saying I am wrong -- let me explain. You see, there is one other area also referred to as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." That area is of course the Outer Banks of North Carolina, of which the renowned Cape Hatteras is a part. The Outer Banks are comprised of a chain of barrier islands of shifting sand roughly 200 miles (320 km) long from the Virginia border south past famous spots like Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Cape Hatteras, and on to Cape Lookout.
The area has accumulated some 5000 shipwrecks since the first recorded one in the early 1500s. That is more than ten times the number of wrecks Sable Island has recorded. So yes, the Outer Banks perhaps deserves the moniker "Graveyard of the Atlantic" more than Sable Island. However, Sable Island is so far out in the Atlantic Ocean and comprises such a small sliver of land -- it's a legitimate hazard to navigation. The Outer Banks are long, roughly parallel to, and close to the mainland. So, it is your choice which should be considered the true Graveyard of the Atlantic. I choose Sable Island for two reasons: 1) it is the title of this article and 2) it is Canadian and so am I.
As a boater, you are probably aware of the Gulf Stream, a powerful warm Atlantic Ocean current generally around 60-miles (100 km) wide and up to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) deep with surface speeds up to 5 mph (8 km/h). It originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows northward very close to the eastern coastline of United States. Still following the coastline, it veers northeast until Nova Scotia, Canada where it turns eastward and becomes the North Atlantic Current. It then heads toward northwest Europe. The Gulf Stream has a major impact on global climate.
As a boater, you may or may not be aware of the Labrador Current. It brings frigid water from the Arctic Ocean southward following the coast of Labrador, around the island of Newfoundland, and then south toward Nova Scotia. The Labrador Current is about the same width as the Gulf Stream but roughly half the depth and half the speed. It is very low in salinity and brings with it hundreds of icebergs of all sizes, which it dumps into the North Atlantic Ocean causing endless navigation hazards in shipping lanes. The Titanic was one such victim.
As a boater, you also are, or at least should be, aware of what happens when warm air comes into contact with cold air. Fog. The warm moist air brought north by the Gulf Stream cools down when it is invaded by the cool air brought south by the Labrador Current. The two currents meet off the coast of Nova Scotia and merge in the vicinity of Sable island. As the warm air cools, it is unable to hold onto its moisture, and the result is fog. Intense fog.
As a result, the very small and shifting sandbar in the middle of nowhere known as Sable Island can become invisible. At the same time, a peculiar benefit to the merging of these two currents is one of the richest commercial fishing grounds in the world. For that reason, Sable Island is home to the world’s largest breeding colony of grey seals. In turn, the seal population encourages up to twelve species of sharks to occupy the surrounding waters. This little remote sand dune is also the only breeding ground of the rare Ipswitch Sparrow.
Sable Island is home to one more anomaly -- one you may have heard about. This tiny sand spit is home to a population of around 400 wild horses. The horses are unique with thick, wooly, shaggy coats and stocky bodies. The herd has been on Sable Island since the mid-1700s, and is thought to have survived from livestock herds including horses, cows, sheep, goats, and hogs that were brought by a church Minister intending to provide sustainable food for those inhabiting the island (and those shipwrecked on the island). Only the horses survived.
The horses have free range and, as wild horses do anywhere else, arrange themselves in bands. Marram grass is abundant on the island and with roots 2-3 feet deep, it holds the sand together. This forms the main diet for the horses along with sandwort, washed-up algae, bluegrass, and red fescue grass. Freshwater ponds are found on the west side of the island and so the horses, which have developed larger and flatter then normal hooves for better traction in the sand, dig water holes in the sand elsewhere to access groundwater.
Onward to boats and ships. We have all heard of Christopher Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492 and claiming to be the first European to discover America. Here is some more trivia -- some five years later, King Henry VII of England sent Italian explorer John Cabot in the same general direction, resulting in the naming and claiming of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia for England.
Some 20 years later, it appears that Portuguese explorer Faqundes first encountered the island and tried to name it Faqunda after himself. That didn’t stick as a few years later another Italian explorer named it Isola Della Rena ("sandy island") around 1550. From that sandy reference, French maps around 1600 called it "Ile de Sable." That, of course, became Sable Island once English became the dominant language in Nova Scotia.
It is not known just when the first ship foundered off Sable Island, but the first of the350 recorded shipwrecks was the HMS Delight in 1583 – HMS of course establishing the vessel as sailing for England in His (or Her) Majesty’s Service – the “Her” in this case being Queen Elizabeth on the throne. Most of the crew of the Delight drowned.
In 1737, a hundred survivors of the Catherine made it ashore on Sable, repaired the longboat (a general utility and lifeboat carried aboard most sailing ships of the time) that had washed ashore with them, and sailed it to Nova Scotia a few days later. Yes, a hundred survivors in one longboat. I hope it was really “long.”
In 1800, the Francis was wrecked with many lives saved and many others lost. Rumours of looting of the bodies and murder of some survivors prompted an inquiry. It even prompted a legend that remains to this day -- a lost soul that roams the island at night in search of her wedding ring that was stolen from her!
The result of the inquiry was the establishment of the Humane Establishment on Sable by the Colonial Government of Nova Scotia in 1801, essentially a rescue and first aid station. This began the continuous and permanent human habitation of the island. The first Superintendent James Morris and his family constructed a settlement that included a main building, rescue boat buildings, lookout posts throughout the island, and shelters for survivors. Much later, self-bailing lifeboats arrived on the island.
In 1854, the wreck of the Arcadia proved the value of the Life Saving Station and the new lifeboats as all 170 passengers and crew were saved. Over three days, crews made trips back and forth to the wreck in horrific seas until everyone was returned to Sable Island. The ship was demolished by the storm within days of the rescue.
Following Canada’s formation by Confederation in 1867, Sable Island came under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of Canada. The government constructed both the East End and West End lighthouses in 1873 and replaced each of them several times into the 1980s. The West End lighthouse was automated by the Canadian Coast Guard in 1960 and was eventually decommissioned in 2004. The East End Automated Light remained in service until 2014 when it too was decommissioned. Although the lights are no longer lit, both lighthouse structures remain intact.
Of course, lighthouses are of little help in dense fog . And so it was in 1898 the La Bourgogne, considered the fastest trans-Atlantic liner at the time and one of the last with both sails and a steam engine, collided with a British sailing ship off Sable Island. Chaos and panic ensued and over 500 passengers of the French ship were lost. Somehow, half of the crew survived. An inquiry into the incident was conducted.
Most of the 350 known shipwrecks off Sable Island are eventually torn apart and destroyed by the violent storms, waves, and weather. They gradually float away, sink out of sight, or are buried by the shifting sand. But, in 1905, the British steamer Skidby, on its way to Baltimore, ran aground off the north shore of Sable Island. The hull and superstructure eventually disappeared, but the ship’s boilers are still visible over 100 years later.
The most recent major shipwreck occurred in 1947 with the grounding of the steamship Manhasset. While some crew were taken by rescue boat to the mainland, 12 ended up on the island and became belligerent and threatening to Island Superintendent Don Johnson. With his pistol, Johnson had to disarm the crew of their knives and settle them down. Luckily, it all worked out okay in the end.
Navigation electronics have rendered shipwrecks today into almost the same category as the dodo bird. But still, in 1999 the last recorded shipwreck on Sable Island since the Manhasset in 1947 was the Merrimac, a 12-metre (40-foot) fiberglass sailing yacht that ran aground in the middle of the night in the middle of the summer. The boat’s owner and his two passengers used their onboard dinghy to reach the island where they were taken in and flown the following day to Halifax. Remains of the hull and some fittings are still visible poking out of the sand.
Until navigation electronics became universal, lighthouse keepers and life-saving crews and their families inhabited the island year-round. In the early 1900s, the Marconi Company established a wireless station on Sable Island and the Canadian government established a permanent weather station with its own meteorologist. The island became the Sable Island National Park Reserve in 2013 under the strict environmental protection of Parks Canada.
Sable Island is staffed tear-round by Parks Canada personnel and all visits to the island, including by recreational boaters, must be permitted by the agency and their itinerary approved in advance. Visiting is limited to five months a year -- June through October. The Parks Canada website seems to encourage visiting as it lists cruise tour operators by sea or by air, or “when travelling by private vessel or small expedition ship.”
Beneath Sable Island is an estimated 85 billion cubic metres (three trillion cubic feet) of natural gas reserves believed to be 5,000 metres (16,000 feet) below the surface. And so, the future of Sable Island remains another question entirely. With Atlantic storms and hurricanes becoming more numerable and more devastating, coupled with a projected rise in ocean water levels, there is ongoing debate about the future of this shifting sand dune sitting alone in the ocean. We can only imagine and we can only hope.
