WHAT’S IN A NAME?

When Captain James Cook was engaged to survey the Newfoundland coast in 1763, following the Seven Years’ War between Britain and France, the famous cartographer included the southern portion of Labrador in his work. Published in 1775, Cook’s map anglicized some French names on that shoreline (Cap St. Louis became Cape St. Lewis) and added certain new English appellations (Black Bay, Wreck Cove and York Point). It also added monikers to locations unnamed on earlier maps. One of these additions was Battle Isle, off Labrador’s southeast coast. This nondescript bit of rock, dwarfed by neighbouring Great Caribou Island, is the only island in the 80 kilometres between Cape St. Lewis and Cape Charles that is identified with a name.

Older French maps sometimes include the Isles du Caribou in this location, denoting the cluster of islands in the immediate vicinity as a group. But Cook dropped any reference to those larger neighbours, deciding Battle Isle warranted special note on its own. Some have suggested the name could come from batel, the Portuguese word for small boat, though historical geographer Michael Barkham says the name origin remains uncertain, as does the question of why Cook chose to single the island out as he did. But Battle Harbour, as the outport subsequently became known, played an outsized role in the history and lore of Newfoundland and Labrador over the next two centuries.