THE GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC
It lies like a narrow crescent around 120 miles from the eastern coast of Canada, but “lies” isn’t the right word. In contrast with the world’s other islands, most of which are of volcanic origin and anchored to the seabed, Sable Island is constantly moving in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. Its location fluctuates up to 7 miles from north to south and 19 miles east to west, always in a clockwise direction. The reason for this movement can be found in the giant hurricanes and nor'easters that pummel the island as well as in three competing ocean forces: the Gulf Stream and the Labrador and Saint Lawrence currents. They’re all constantly pushing and pulling on the big sandbar, effectively picking up sand from one side and depositing it on another in a process that has been going on for centuries.
But it’s not just the constantly shifting location that has earned Sable Island the nickname “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” The highest point of this 26-mile-long island is no more than 90 feet above the water, and the cool, wet climate turns the strip of land into a lurking phantom, almost invisible for about 130 days of the year. Over the past 400 years, an estimated 350 vessels have run aground on Sable Island’s sand banks, sometimes leaving only their wrecked masts protruding from the dunes, and more than 10,000 sailors have perished in the unforgiving waves. Although no one lives in this inhospitable place there are about 500 wild horses, the offspring of a few dozen that were brought here 300 years ago. They live on the shore, feeding on grass growing from dunes and roaming among skeletons of dead ships as if warning would-be visitors to steer clear.