CHAP. XXV. SHIPWRECKS AT AIS^TICOSTI. 71 



only have arisen from the natural tendency to magnify 

 dangers of Avhich we have no precise knowledge.' * 



Provision posts have been estabhshed by the Canadian 

 Government for the relief of crews wrecked on the island,f 



* Bayfield. 



t To those who have drawn conclusions unfavourable to the island fi'om 

 the number of wrecks which have been reported to have taken place upon 

 it, it is necessary to point out that the wi'ecks, which in retiu'ns appear so 

 formidable in the aggregate under the head of ' Anticosti,' have not occurred 

 at one spot, but at many spots widely separated, extending over a distance 

 of 320 miles, that being the circumference of the island, and consequently 

 the extent of coast front, not taking into accoimt the indentations caused by 

 bays, creeks, &c. Take the same length of coast upon any part of the main 

 shores of the river or gulf, and it will be found, upon proper enquiry, that 

 six times as many wrecks have occm-red within it each year as have for the 

 same period taken place upon Anticosti. From an estimate (made by the 

 writer of this communication) of disasters in the river and gulf of St. Law- 

 rence diu'ing the ten years ending November 1849, it appears that half as 

 many wrecks occurred upon the Manicouagan shoals as took place upon the 

 island in that period, and that Cape Rosier, Matane, and Green Island each 

 wrecked upwards of a third of the number of vessels which were stranded 

 during the same period upon the whole of the 320 miles of the much-libelled 

 coasts of Anticosti. Again, from the shelving nature of the beach at Anti- 

 costi, there are few instances recorded of wrecks upon the latter having been 

 attended with loss of life. While the fate of the crew of the Granicus 

 (wrecked in 1828 near Fox Bay), who in the course of a long winter died 

 from famine, has created in the minds of many an unreasoning dread of Anti- 

 costi, those greater dangers and more frequent and heavier disasters upon 

 the main shores of the St. Lawi-ence have been almost entirely lost sight of. 

 The evil reputation which still hangs over the island became attached to it 

 many years ago, before its coasts were thoroughly surveyed, when it was 

 laid down in the chart as being many miles shorter than it actually is. 

 Owing to this, many vessels ran upon it in places where deep water was sup- 

 posed to exist, and before lighthouses were placed there. Since the erection 

 of the latter and the late survey of its coasts, wrecks upon the island have 

 become less frequent. Most of those which now occur there are caused by 

 the neglect of using the lead in foggy weather, many of them through the 

 incapacity or drunkenness of masters (who, generally, are shamefully imder- 

 paid), and some of them through design. Of the latter cases the insurance 

 offices ai-e perfectly aware ; but instead of endeavouring to meet them by 

 preventive measures, they increase the rates of insurance, so as to cover 

 such losses by estimating for them in a certain proportion to the whole, 

 thus making the entire trade pay for the dishonest acts of the rogue, and ■ 

 leaving the public to suffer by paying a proportionably increased price for all 



