Sable Island
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Sable Island is situated 180 km southeast of
Nova Scotia,
Canada in the
Atlantic Ocean. The island is a crescent-shaped sandbar emerging from the vast shoals and shallows which have caused over 300 recorded shipwrecks. Almost 2 km at its widest point, it is about 38 km long and is covered with grass and other low-growing vegetation.
Sable means "sand" in
French.
It is home to over 250 wild
horses who are protected by law from human interference. Several large bird colonies are here, Arctic terns, and Ipswich sparrows who breed nowhere else.
Beginning over 200 years ago,
lighthouse and life-saving crews and their animals have inhabited the island. A brief attempt at colonization at the end of the 16th century by the French failed. Meteorological and atmospheric studies are routinely conducted on Sable because of its unique geographic position down-wind from the mainland.
Sable Island is mentioned in the book and a staged version appears in the movie
The Perfect Storm. The island is specifically mentioned in the
Constitution of Canada as being the responsibility of the federal government. It is presently under the administrative control of the
Canadian Coast Guard, as is Saint Paul Island.
As a result of this separate administration,
amateur radio operators consider it a separate country, having the
call sign prefix CY9. Since many amateurs want to collect contacts with as many countries as possible, and the island is virtually uninhabited, this makes stations operating from Sable Island very desirable to contact ("rare DX"). As a result, a number of private expeditions to operate temporary radio stations (known as DX-peditions) have been mounted.
The island is considered a part of the
Halifax Regional Municipality and the federal electoral district of
Halifax, although Halifax proper is some 180 km away on the Nova Scotian mainland.
Bibliography
- "Sable Island Shipwrecks: Disaster and Survival at the North Atlantic Graveyard" by Lyall Campbell, Nimbus pub., ISBN 1551090961, December 2001\n*" Ethos of Voice in the Journal of James Rainstorpe Morris from the Sable Island Humane Station, 1801-1802", by Rosalee Stilwell, ISBN 0773476636, Edwin Mellen Press, January 2001\n* "Sable Island", by Bruce Armstrong, ISBN 0385131135, Doubleday, July 1981\n* "Wild Horses of Sable Island", by Zoe Lucas, ISBN 0919872735, Firefly Books Ltd., August 1992\n* "Wild and Beautiful Sable Island", Pat Keough et al., ISBN 096925573X, Green Publishing,September 1993\n* "Sable Island Journals 1801-1804", by James Rainstorpe Morris, ISBN 0968924506
External links
Category:Nova ScotiaCategory:Islands of Canada
