Sable Island

Crescent-shaped island in the Atlantic Ocean, 285 km/175 mi east-southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Some 40 km/25 mi long from east to west, and 1.5 km/1 mi wide in the centre, it narrows to sandspits at either end, which continue underwater as shallow sandbars, treacherous to shipping. Many settlements, all unsuccessful, have been attempted on the island.

Sable Island has been the scene of many shipwrecks over the years, earning it the nickname ‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’. To aid navigation, lighthouses were built in 1873, and lifeboat stations here were manned from the early 19th to the mid-20th centuries. Its only current inhabitants are personnel for the weather and navigation station. The island has ridges of dunes covered with grasses and shrubs, and a freshwater lake. A herd of 150 to 400 Sable Island horses, probably introduced in the 18th century, run free on the island and are protected.