ST. JOHN: SABLE ISLAND. 17 



ers and pirates preying on any unfortunates cast upon the island. So 

 notorious was this condition, that at the instance of Sir John Went- 

 worth an act was passed in 1801 for the protection of shipwrecked 

 property; and unauthorized persons were forbidden to dwell on 

 Sable Island, and were forcibly removed. 



The captain and the crew of one cf the vessels cast away at this 

 time were forced to stay on Sable Island through the winter. It be- 

 came the Captain's custom after each storm to examine the part of the 

 island most affected by it. In doing this he counted over 40 wrecks, 

 which had been uncovered, not one of which was visible before. 



FIRST HUMANE ESTABLISHMENT, 1801. 



On the 25th of June, 1801, the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia 

 authorized the settling of three families on Sable Island and voted 

 600 to defray the expenses. James Morris was appointed the first 

 Superintendent, and on the 13th of October, he with his family and 

 assistants was landed on the island. The object was to save the lives 

 and the property of people shipwrecked on the island. Three years 

 later, by an official report, we learn that from five wrecks, Supt. Mor- 

 ris and his staff were responsible for saving the lives of 41 persons and 

 2,300 worth of property. 



Between 1801 and 1913, there have been 176 known wrecks on the 

 Island, and it is estimated from bits of wreckage that at least as many 

 "missing ships" have struck and gone down with all hands on the 

 more distant parts of the bars. The Northwest Bar extends 1 1 miles 

 beyond the West End of the island and the Northeast Bar 16 miles 

 beyond the East End, so that in time of storms the island and its bars 

 form a line of breakers and shoals nearly 50 miles long that bodes 

 ill for any mariner who attempts to cross. 



During the War of 1812, President Madison issued strict orders that 

 "the public and private armed vessels of the United States are not to 

 interrupt any British unarmed vessels bound to Sable Island, and 

 laden with supplies for the humane establishment at that place." 1 



The establishment has continued to the present day, supported at 

 first by the government of Nova Scotia, then by Nova Scotia and 

 Great Britain jointly, and now by Canada and Great Britain. In 

 1913, it consisted of five Life Saving Stations and two lighthouses, 

 with a staff of twenty-one men, and a Marconi Station with five men, the 



l Niles' Weekly Register, iii. 191 (1812). 



