Cape Sable Island, locally referred to as Cape Island, is a small

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

island at the southernmost point of the

Nova Scotia peninsula The Nova Scotia peninsula is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of North America. Location The Nova Scotia peninsula is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada and is connected to the neighbouring province of New Brunswick through the Is ...

. It is sometimes confused with

Sable Island Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island ...

. Historically, the

Argyle, Nova Scotia Argyle, officially named the Municipality of the District of Argyle, is a district municipality in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. Statistics Canada classifies the district municipality as a municipal district. The district municipality occupies th ...

region was known as Cape Sable and encompassed a much larger area than simply the island it does today. It extended from Cape Negro (Baccaro) through Chebogue. The island is situated in

Shelburne County Shelburne County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History Shelburne County was founded in 1784 shortly following the influx of Loyalist settlers evacuated from the newly independent United States of America. It was originally ...

south of Barrington Head, separated from the mainland by the narrow strait of

Barrington Passage Barrington Passage is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of the District of Barrington of Shelburne County. It is named after William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington. History The Mi'kmaq called ...

, but has been connected since 1949 by a causeway. The largest community on the island is the town of

Clark's Harbour Clark's Harbour is a town on Cape Sable Island in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Municipality of the District of Barrington in Shelburne County. The main industry is lobster fishing. Owing to this as well as the town's history ...

. Other communities are listed below. At the extreme southern tip is Cape Sable.

History

Southern tip of Nova Scotia, showing Cape Sable Island

Cape Sable Island was inhabited by the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the nort ...

who knew it as Kespoogwitk meaning "land's end". It was first charted by explorers from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

who named it Beusablom, meaning "Sandy Bay".

French Colony

Cape Sable and Cape Negro, Nova Scotia were first settled by the Acadians who migrated from Port Royal, Nova Scotia in 1620. The French governor of Acadia, Charles de la Tour, colonized Cap de Sable giving it the present name, meaning Sandy Cape. La Tour built up a strong post at Cap de Sable beginning in 1623, called Fort Lomeron in honour of David Lomeron who was his agent in France. (The fur trading post called Fort Lomeron was later renamed Fort La Tour although identified as Fort Saint-Louis in the writings of Samuel de Champlain.) Here he carried on a sizable trade in furs with the Mi'kmaq and farmed the land. During the

Anglo-French War (1627–1629) The Anglo-French War () was a military conflict fought between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England between 1627 and 1629. It mainly involved actions at sea.''Warfare at sea, 1500-1650: maritime conflicts and the transformation of E ...

, under Charles 1, by 1629 the Kirkes took

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, Sir James Stewart of Killeith,

Lord Ochiltree Lord Ochiltree (or Ochiltrie) of Lord Stuart of Ochiltree was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. In 1542 Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Avondale (see the Earl Castle Stewart for earlier history of the family) exchanged the lordship of Avondale with Si ...

planted a colony on Cape Breton Island at Baleine, and Alexander's son,

William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling (c. 1567 in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire12 February 1640) was a Scottish courtier and poet who was involved in the Scottish colonisation of Charles Fort, later Port-Royal, Nova Scotia in 1629 and Long I ...

established the first incarnation of "New Scotland" at Port Royal, Nova Scotia. This set of British triumphs in what had otherwise been a disastrous war was not destined to last. Charles 1's haste to make peace with France on the terms most beneficial to him meant that the new North American gains would be bargained away in the

Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632) The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed on March 29, 1632. It returned New France (Quebec, Acadia and Cape Breton Island) to French control after the English had seized it in 1629,Saint John; another battle at Balene, Cape Breton; and one on Cape Sable Island.

Siege of 1630

In 1629, as a result of these Scottish victories, Cape Sable was the only major French holding in North America. There was a battle between Charles and his father at Fort St. Louis (Se
National Historic Site - Fort St. Louis
, the latter supporting the Scottish who had taken Port Royal. The battle lasted two days. Claude was forced to withdraw in humiliation to Port Royal. As a result, La Tour appealed to the King of France for assistance and was appointed lieutenant-general in Acadia in 1631. By 1641, La Tour lost Cape Sable Island, Pentagouet (

Castine, Maine Castine ( ) is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine.; John Faragher. ''Great and Nobel Scheme''. 2005. p. 68. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduate ...

), and Port Royal to Governor of Acadia

Charles de Menou d'Aulnay Charles de Menou d'Aulnay (''de Charnisay'') (–1650) was a French pioneer of European settlement in North America and Governor of Acadia (1635–1650). Biography D'Aulnay was a member of the French nobility who was at various times a sea capt ...

de Charnisay. La Tour retired to Cap de Sable with his third wif
Jeanne Motin
wed in 1653, and died in 1666.

Father Rale's War

During

Father Rale's War Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...

, there were numerous attacks on New England fishing vessels. As an important landfall and base for seasonal New England fishing vessels working the rich fishing banks of Southwestern Nova Scotia, Cape Sable attracted several waves of pirate attacks in the

Golden Age of Piracy The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the Indian Ocean, North America, and West Africa ...

. Pirates

Ned Low Edward "Ned" Low (also spelled Lowe or Loe; 16901724) was a notorious pirate of English origin during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy, in the early 18th century. Low was born into poverty in Westminster, London, and was a thief from ...

and John Phillips raided fishing vessels off Cape Sable and Phillips met his death off the Cape in 1723. In 1725 the British signed a treaty (or "agreement") with the Mi'kmaq of Cape Sable and other parts of Nova Scotia but the rights of the Mi'kmaq defined in it to hunt and fish on their lands have often been disputed by the authorities.

French and Indian War

The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. Over the next forty-five years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this time period, Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. The Acadians and Mi'kmaq from Cape Sable Island raided the Protestants at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia numerous times. During the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

, the British sought to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia. In April 1756, Major

Jedidiah Preble Jedidiah Preble (1707–1784) was Captain of Infantry in Samuel Waldo's Regiment, whom he brought land from and settled in Falmouth, Maine (present-day Portland, Maine). He served in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745). He also fought in the Battle ...

and his New England troops, on their return to Boston, raided a settlement near Port La Tour and captured 72 men, women and children. In the late summer of 1758, the British launched three large offensives against the Acadians. One was the

St. John River Campaign The St. John River campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest v ...

, another was the Petitcodiac River Campaign, and the other was against the Acadians at Cape Sable Island. Major Henry Fletcher led the 35th Regiment and a company of

Joseph Gorham Joseph Gorham (sometimes recorded as Goreham, 1725–1790) was an American colonial military officer during King George's War and later a British army commander during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. He is best known ...

's Rangers to Cape Sable Island. He cordoned off the cape and sent his men through it. One hundred Acadians and Father Jean Baptiste de Gray surrendered, while about 130 Acadians and seven Mi'kmaq escaped. The Acadian prisoners were taken to Georges Island in Halifax Harbour. En route to the

in September 1758, Moncton sent Major Roger Morris, in command of two men-of-war and transport ships with 325 soldiers, to deport more Acadians. On October 28, his troops sent the women and children to Georges Island. The men were kept behind and forced to work with troops to destroy their village. On October 31, they were also sent to Halifax. In the spring of 1759, Joseph Gorham and his rangers arrived to take prisoner the remaining 151 Acadians. They reached Georges Island with them on June 29.

New England Planters

Following the

Acadian Expulsion The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian pe ...

in the 1750s, the island was settled by the

New England Planters The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor (and subsequently governor) of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( ...

from Cape Cod and nearby Nantucket Island. The waters off southwestern Nova Scotia had been well known to them since the days of French settlement in the early 17th century. While the tides of the Gulf of Maine may have brought a few exploring fishermen from Nantucket to the island, it was an entirely different tide that spawned the eventual permanent English settlement—a political tide. Many Cape New Englanders took advantage of the offer of of land to each male adult who would leave his home and live on those vacated lands in Atlantic Canada. Cape Sable Island was well known to Cape Cod fishermen and they moved north in 1760 to take advantage of a new life. The Cape Sable settlement soon became, and remains today, an important base for inshore fisheries. It is famous as the birthplace of the Cape Islander fishing boat, a motor fishing boat which emerged about 1905. Ferry service provided transportation to the island in the early 20th century. A causeway was eventually constructed for pedestrian and automobile traffic, opening on August 5, 1949. Today the lobster fishery is the island's biggest industry.

American Revolution

Raid on Cape Sable Island (1778)

During the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, on September 4, 1778, the light infantry company of the

84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutiona ...

, under the command of Cpt.

Ranald MacKinnon Ranald MacKinnon (sometimes spelled ''McKinnon'') was a soldier and a civil servant of the British Empire from 1758 until his death in 1805. As a junior officer he served with Montgomerie's Highlanders (77th Regiment of Foot) in the French and ...

, was in the Raid of Cape Sable Island. American Privateers were threatening Cape Sable Island when the 84th Regiment arrived; they surprised the ship in the night and destroyed it. For his aggressive action, MacKinnon was praised highly by Brigadier General Eyre Massey. In response, one of his friends, Cpt. MacDonald, wrote to Major John Small, "McKinnon was embarrassed by the praise of the General and requested it not be inserted in the record since he only did his duty."

Communities of Cape Sable Island

The following communities are included within the Community of Cape Sable Island: *Cape Sable Island * Centreville * Clam Point *

* Lower Clarks Harbour * Newellton * North East Point * South Side * Stoney Island * The Hawk * West Head

Shipwrecks

Cape Sable is the centre of a busy fishing area and an important landfall for shipping in the Age of Sail. This traffic produced many shipwrecks such as the SS '' Hungarian'' in 1862 and the schooner '' Codseeker'' in 1877.

Climate

Cape Sable Island has an oceanic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfb''), with significant continental influence. The surrounding waters result in cooler summers, but milder winters, with less snowfall, than the rest of Nova Scotia. Summer temperatures are very low for the latitude (the same latitude as

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

), and the climate borders the subpolar oceanic (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Cfc'') type. At the peak of summer, in late August and early September, daily average high temperatures is around 15 °C. Winters are wet and windy, but warm for Atlantic Canada. Snowfall is moderately heavy, but winter brings less snow than in most other locations in Atlantic Canada, which commonly average much more snow per winter season (for example, Sydney, Nova Scotia 83 cmand

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

35 cm. Summers on Cape Sable Island are cool with much more stable weather when compared to winters. Due to surrounding cool ocean waters, summer thunderstorms are very rare, but low clouds and fog are common. The strong influence of the Atlantic Ocean also produces exceptionally strong

seasonal lag Seasonal lag is the phenomenon whereby the date of maximum average air temperature at a geographical location on a planet is delayed until some time after the date of maximum insolation (i.e. the summer solstice). This also applies to the minim ...

. On average, the coldest month is February, while the warmest month is September, coming in slightly warmer than August, and October is slightly warmer than June. The island lies in the path of

Nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use ...

s, which reach maximum frequency and intensity in winter, meaning this area's wettest months on average are December and January. Tropical weather systems, including, rarely,

hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

can occur occasionally, generally entering the area from the south or southwest, with the greatest risk in September and October. Cape Sable Island is also prone to bouts of thick fog. Over the years the Cape's storms, and the close proximity of the island to shipping routes, has led to a substantial number of shipwrecks. The most tragic was the wreck of the SS ''Hungarian'' in February 1860 with the loss of over 200 lives. A lighthouse was established at the tip of Cape Sable in the next year.

Bird watching

With the ocean lapping on all sides of the island, the climate is maritime - decidedly cool in summer but winters are considerably more moderate than interior parts of the province. The island is a notable

birding Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, ...

destination, being an important migratory stopping point for birds such as the Atlantic brant and piping plover. It is this unique climate, its abundant tidal marshes and the island's geographical location on the north–south flight path of numerous migratory water fowl that has given it the international designation as an Important Bird Area. The annual brant geese fly-by during March and April is developing into a local birding event. The tens of thousands of brant make their spectacular fly by at dusk after spending the day feeding in local marshes. They spend the night bobbing in the Atlantic to the east of the island.Important Bird Areas of Canada page for Cape Sable Island

References

Texts *Nicholls, Andrew. A Fleeting Empire: Early Stuart Britain and the Merchant Adventurers to Canada. McGill-Queen's University Press. 2010. Endnotes
Our Ocean Playground - A Nova Scotia History Manual

External links

Cape Sable Island, 1873

Cape Sable Island.ca

CapeIsland.ca - video and pictures of the island

{{Coord, 43, 27, 24.41, N, 65, 36, 50.86, W, region:CA_type:isle, display=title Islands of Nova Scotia Landforms of Shelburne County, Nova Scotia General Service Areas in Nova Scotia 1623 establishments in the French colonial empire