SAND & SEAjune/july 2016cruisingworld.com51OVER the next three days, we hiked
everywhere. There are no trees on Sable
Island nor any cover to escape from the
sun. In the 1940s, Canada built several
buildings to house meteorologists and life-
saving personnel. Four of us were allowed
to stay in one of the rustic cabins; the
other two stayed on the boat at night.
Dan and Bill worked with Parks Cana-
da’s senior archaeologist, Charles Burke,
over the next few days. They spent dawn
to dusk exploring and recording the many
cultural items they found in their travels. It
was amazing how much material was scat-
tered around the island; the Canadians do
not gather any of it. Jonathan Sheppard,
the Sable Island park manager, told me
that the cultural material gives research-
ers many clues about the rich tapestry of
attempted settlements and shipwrecks.
As a museum curator, Dan seemed
mighty happy to find a treasure trove of
artifacts, which he estimated would take
months to catalog thoroughly. Part of our
agreement in gaining permission to land
on Sable was that we provide a written
report on Dan and Bill’s findings. Among
the intriguing things we discovered was
an old mooring buoy or channel marker. It
was rusted and shaped like an onion. Dan
estimated that it was from the late 1800s.
We did not touch any of the artifacts.
Surprisingly, there was minimal evidence
of shipwrecks, even though many stories of
ships going down are well documented (see
“The Graveyard and Its Wrecks,” p. 52). We
did find the remains of one ship sticking
out of the sea, and you could see the out-
line of a broken hull under the water. We
learned that the sand swallows up a ves-
sel quickly. In 1999, a yacht named Merri-
mac sailed up on the beach and was quickly
devoured by the sand. Now 16 years later,
we spotted her bulkhead and some rig-
ging about 200 yards from the ocean. It
was amazing to see how the position of the
beach had changed in such a short time.
Among Sable Island’s many tales of mis-
fortune is the one involving the fishing
vessel Andrea Gail, which became famous
in the book and film The Perfect Storm.
The ill-fated vessel made her last commu-
nications east of Sable; the only evidence
of her loss was her EPIRB and some fish-
ing gear, which were found on the island’s
beach. In 1912, the steamship RMS Car-
pathia, which had rescued the survivors of
Titanic, relayed its reports about the sink-
ing along with a list of survivors through
the Marconi wireless station on the island.
With shoal areas extending up to a
dozen miles from Sable’s opposite ends,
one can imagine just how dangerous these
waters were before reliable electronicVisiting Sable Island
Tazzarin was the only private yacht
to visit Sable Island in 2015. The des-
tination is off the beaten path and
best suited for yachts and experi-
enced crews that are well equipped
for offshore sailing. As the newest
National Park Reserve in the Parks
Canada system, the island is open to
the public, but advance registration
is required. For additional informa-
tion on arranging a visit, see the Parks
Canada website, pc.gc.ca/sable, and
review the information under the
“Visitor Information” section.
Sable is 180 nautical miles from
Halifax and 100 miles from Canso,
Nova Scotia, the nearest port. It is
the foggiest place in Canada, with
127 days of fog a year, the majority
of it in the midsummer cruising
months. It is also the windiest place
in the Maritimes. There are no
harbors, docks or moorings, and the
small staff at Main Station has no
boat to assist in emergencies.
The shoals are constantly
shifting, and a depth sounder and
eyesight navigation provide more
information than a chart during final
approach. In fair weather, you should
be able to find an anchorage in 20 to
25 feet of water with good holding in
a sandy bottom.
Visiting yachts must anchor in a
designated spot adjacent to Main Sta-
tion, on the north side of the island.
Typically, yachts are discouraged
from remaining anchored overnight;
visitors are allowed ashore only
during daylight. If there are northerly
winds, landings can be difficult or
impossible due to surf conditions.
If you visit, though, Sable provides a
memorable experience. — Bill Barton