Sable Island

“ Henceforth Eric had nothing to fear from him.
Winter on Sable Island is not like winter on the mainland. The Gulf Stream prevents any long continuance of cold. The snow comes in violent storms, and fills the valleys with drifts; but these soon vanish. There is more rain and fog than snow, even in mid-winter; and the herds of wild, shaggy, sharp-boned ponies which scamper from end to end of the island have no difficulty in finding plenty to eat among the grasses which grow rankly in every sheltered spot. ”

“ Captain Coté said the winter ice-pack tossed these great stones about as if it were a child’s game with marbles.
A happy man he thought himself to have his children with him. The lighthouse-keeper at Belle Isle lost six of his family on their way to join him; another at Flower’s Cove lost five. As a remorseless graveyard of the deep the region is a rival of the dreaded Sable Island off Newfoundland’s south shore. ”

“ The picturesque beauty of this place, the deep, black water, the high, encircling hills, the sombre, primeval forests, the utter seclusion, all produced a profound impression upon the minds of the boys, who always were alive to the beauties of nature, and who here had something in addition to natural beauty. For their thoughts turned at once to that which had been for days the supreme subject in their minds—the treasure of the buccaneers. Was not this the haunt of the pirates spoken of by the governor of Sable Island. They all felt sure that it must be. ”

“ There can’t be any very great danger. The wind’s gone down, you know. The sea’s ever so much smoother than it was, and it’s going to be smoother still. All sorts of vessels visit this island. The Nova Scotia government send supplies here regularly; and so I don’t see what danger there is. For my part, I think we’d all better go ashore. The more I think of it, the more convinced I am that we’ll be better off ashore on Sable Island than we are drifting about on board of the Antelope. And so I say, Hurrah, boys, for Sable Island! ”

“ Passing the night in the vicinity of such a place as Sable Island is what few would choose for any amount of money. On this occasion, most fortunately, the weather was calm. The wind had died away to a gentle breeze, and the water was quite smooth. The only motion experienced by those on board the Antelope was that long rise and fall which is always felt out at sea, owing to the never-ending undulation of the ocean waters.
The boys went below and slept. Captain Corbet, however, remained on deck, and kept his lonely vigil far into the night. ”

“ You, Bart, may see Anticosti; you, Arthur, may see Sable Island; you, Tom, may visit St. Paul and St. Peter; you, Phil, may visit the Bay of Islands; and at the same time you, Pat, may see Newfoundland. Of course, then, I hope to go to the Magdalen Islands. Now, as we are going to visit all these places, and the Magdalen Islands happen to be nearest, we will take them first, while we may visit in turn Anticosti and the others, winding up with Sable Island, which may be postponed to the last, since it is the farthest off. We may make up our minds, boys, to no end of adventures. ”

“ Ben carried a heavy musket that would send a load of slugs through a ship's side, and Eric a light smooth-bore, the accuracy of which he had proved by frequent practice. As they would be away all day, they took plenty of biscuits with them. Prince, of course, accompanied them, and as soon as they had disposed of breakfast they started.
There were many creatures to be found on Sable Island in those days which would be vainly sought for now. Besides the ponies, a large number of wild cattle and hogs roamed about the interior, and furnished the wreckers with abundant meat ”

“ After a long series of alternate calms and favoring breezes the adventurers’ craft finally rounded Cape Sable and shortly afterwards entered the maze of channels, islands, sandbars and treacherous shoals that make up the Ten Thousand Island Archipelago.
The young adventurers had finished the first stage of their daring enterprise. By far the most difficult part lay before them. As Frank put it they had arrived “at the front door of the Everglades,” what lay beyond was only conjecture. ”

“ Off its eastern end lies Banquereau (the Quereau of the fishermen) with The Gully between, and a short distance of the western edge are the La Have Ridges.
The depths off the southern edge of the bank increase rapidly from 80 to 700, 1,200, and even 1,400 fathoms. At the eastern end is Sable Island, [16] "graveyard of ships", a long, narrow, crescent-shaped elevation seemingly lessening in area each year, formed entirely of sand that has been blown Into innumerable hummocks and dunes. Off both ends of the island are long and dangerous sand bars. ”

“ But even more appalling than the fury of the storm that scourged the lonely island were the deeds said to be done by monsters in human guise who plied the wrecker's trade there, and, acting upon the principle that dead men tell no tales, had made it their care to put out of the way all whom even the cruel billows had spared. ”

“ The air required to emit the warning blast, lasting three and a half seconds once in every half-minute, is compressed by the aid of steam. By day the lighthouse is readily distinguishable from its red and white vertical stripes, red lantern, and white dwelling with red roof, in which the keepers have their quarters. To-day the station ranks as one of the finest in the world, complying in every respect with the requisitions for one of a first-class character.
Sable Island is perhaps an even more evil spot in the North Atlantic than the ill-famed Newfoundland coast. ”

“ They dried their fish on the rocks on shore.
The “Isola della Réna” (Sable Island?) appears on the chart of “Nuova Francia” and Norumbega, accompanying the “Discourse” above referred to in Ramusio’s third volume, edition 1556-65. Champlain speaks of there being at the Isle of Sable, in 1604, “grass pastured by oxen (bœufs) and cows which the Portuguese carried there more than sixty years ago,” i.e. sixty years before 1613; in a later edition he says, which came out of a Spanish vessel which was lost in endeavoring to settle on the Isle of Sable ”

“ Nowhere is the fishing so good (or so dangerous) as close in on these bars, and the closer in and the shoaler the water, the better the fishing. There are a few men alive in Gloucester who have been in close enough to see the surf break on the bare bar; but that was in soft weather and the bar to windward, and they invariably got out in a hurry.
Two hundred and odd wrecks of one kind or another, steam and sail, have settled in the sands of Sable Island. ”

“ It offered some faint chance of ultimate deliverance. But would they take him on board the schooner?
CHAPTER IX. FAREWELL TO SABLE ISLAND.
Great was the bustle and excitement at the wreckers' quarters. The day happened to be particularly favourable for embarking—such a day, in fact, as might not come once in a month; and everything must be done to make the most of it. ”

“ Going farther on, we passed the night at Sable Bay, [28] where vessels can anchor without any danger.
The next day we went to Cape Sable, [29] also very dangerous, in consequence of certain rocks and reefs extending almost a league into the sea. It is two leagues from Sable Bay, where we had spent the night before. Thence we went to Cormorant Island, [30] a league distant, so called from the infinite number of cormorants found there, of whose eggs we collected a cask full. From this island, we sailed westerly about six leagues, crossing a bay, which makes up to the north two or three leagues. ”

“ Sabines, an ancient Italian people of the Aryan stock, near neighbours of ancient Borne, a colony of whom is said to have settled on the Quirinal, and contributed to form the moral part of the Roman people. Numa, the second king of the city, was a Sabine. See Romulus.
Sable Island, a low, sandy, barren island in the Atlantic, 110 m. off the E. coast of Nova Scotia; is extremely dangerous to navigation, and is marked by three lighthouses; is gradually being washed away. ”

“ Champlain doubtless obtained his information in regard to the cattle left upon Sable Island by the Portuguese from the from the report of Edward Haies on the voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583:
"Sablon lieth to the seaward of Cape Briton about twenty-five leagues, whither we were determined to goe vpon intelligence we had of a Portugal (during our abode in S. Johns) who was himselfe present, when the Portugals (aboue thirty yeeres past) did put in the same Island both Neat and Swine to breede, which were since exceedingly multiplied. ”

“ Landing.—A friendly Reception, and a bounteous Repast.—Sable Island.—The strange Soil.—The sandy Ridge.—The Lake.—The long Walk.—A wonderful Sight.—The ancient Ship.—The Governor’s Story.—A tremendous Storm and its Effects.—A great Surprise.—Examination and Exhumation.—Disappointment.—Theories.—The Governor rides a Hobby-horse.
WHEN they stepped ashore upon Sable Island they found themselves in the presence of the whole of the population. This population amounted to about eleven souls ”

“ Savage Island is a high-low island; that is, it is a coral atoll with a soil, raised more or less unevenly, some two hundred feet above the sea-level. It produces copra, bananas, cotton, breadfruit, bêche-de-mer, and fungus, and is governed by a king with the assistance of four chiefs and four sub-chiefs. Food trees and plants are carefully cultivated, and the people have the reputation of being industrious and willing to work. Captain [17] Henry wished to take a little girl home to his wife, but was not allowed, it being against the law that a female should leave the island. ”

“ And yet, if you stay there long, you will find out that Savage Island practises certain of the early Christian virtues, if it has dropped a few of its luxuries manufactured by civilisation. If you want a horse to ride across the island—a gentle, native creature that goes off at both ends, like a fire-cracker, when you try to mount, biting and kicking simultaneously, and, when mounted, converts your ride into a sandwich of jibbing and bolting, you will call in at the nearest trader’s, and tell him you want his horse and his neighbour’s saddle and whip. ”

“ THE WHOLE BEACH WAS LINED WITH YELLING SAVAGES.
Captain Fred Arundel, of the Island Queen, now left the island of King Ota far astern, and proceeded to take a quiet survey of the whole group.
The islands were five in all, although one was so small as hardly to be worthy of notice. It is nevertheless the most important of all to our story. This little isle, although well treed, was evidently not inhabited, and had only one landing-place, all the rest of its shore being as inaccessible as the Bass Rock itself. ”

“ The conduct and aspect of these islanders occasioned my naming it Savage Island. It is situated in the latitude 19° 1' S. longitude 169° 37' W. It is about eleven leagues in circuit; of a round form, and good height; and hath deep waters close to its shores. All the sea-coast, and as far inland as we could see, is wholly covered with trees, shrubs, &c.; amongst which were some cocoa-nut trees; but what the interior parts may produce we know not. To judge of the whole garment by the skirts, it cannot produce much ”

“ Just look at that immensity of sea stretching all round us, Fred. If it were not so blue and so bright it might be even a little eeriesome in its very lone beauty."
"Yes, Frank; but don't you see that very lonesomeness may prove our safety? With my glass now, just away out yonder, I seem able to raise the peak of a mountain, but it is very far away. I daresay it is an inhabited island, and very likely there is a group of them. Well, Captain Cawdor told me that all the islands for hundreds of miles around were filled with races of implacable savages and cannibals. ”

“ They were then under the protection of the awful priests, or medicine-men, and were being fed on fruits and on the petals of rare and beautiful flowers. Their hut itself was composed of flowers and foliage.
“The king, no, not even he, could come near them, until the medicine-men had propitiated the demons that live, according to their belief, in every wood and in every ravine and gully in the island.
“Then, at the full of the moon, on that tiny islet I have marked on the map, the king and his warriors would assemble at midnight, and the awful orgies would commence. ”

“ I do not know of anything more hideous, more awful, in this world.
“When I say ‘any of these islands,’ I refer to any one of the whole vast colony of them that stud the South Pacific, and hundreds of these have never yet been visited by white men.
“Years ago,” he continued, “I was first mate of the Sky-Raker, as bonnie a brig as you could have clapped eyes upon. It afterwards foundered with all hands in a gale off the coast of Australia. When I trod her decks, second in command, I was a bold young fellow of twenty, or thereabouts ”

“ Thin and miserable are they, but a godsend nevertheless.
“Lava pouring down the hill-side all night long, shimmering green, red, and orange through the sulphurous haze.”
“August 20.—Men more cheerful to-day. The clouds have cleared away, and we can see the sea, and the sun is less red.
“Halcott and I climbed Observatory Hill. What a scene! The once beautiful island is burnt as it were to a cinder. Trees are scorched; all, all is dead. We could not bear to look at it. But we cut down the flag-pole, and brought away the ensign. They are useless now.
“Who will be the next to die? ”