In late August 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's flagship "Delight" was wrecked at Sable Island during a storm. Fourteen men escaped and eventually returned to England, but almost a hundred perished during the disaster. This was the first documented shipwreck at Sable Island. With publication in England of an account of the loss of the "Delight", the island's reputation as an extreme hazard to navigation was established - even today the island is often referred to as "The Graveyard of the Atlantic". Sable Island, however, is not the only "Graveyard of the Atlantic" - this title is also claimed by Diamond Shoals (near Cape Hatteras). Indeed, the entire coastline of North Carolina is called "The Graveyard of the Atlantic" (see Additional Reading below).

The "Manhasset", a freighter which ran aground on Sable Island in July 1947, was the last wreck of the island's `shipwreck era'. With the development of such aids to navigation as radar and sonar on board ship, and the installation of a radio beacon on Sable Island, shipwrecks became `history' - with just a few exceptions. In July 1999 the Merrimac was added to the long list of maritime disasters at Sable Island.

The Wreck of the Merrimac ...

Shipwrecks, Additional Reading:

Campbell, L. 1974. Sable Island, Fatal and Fertile Crescent. Lancelot Press Limited, Hantsport, Nova Scotia.
Campbell, L. 1994. Sable Island Shipwrecks, Disaster and Survival at the North Atlantic Graveyard. Nimbus Publishing Limited, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Stick, D. 1952. Graveyard of the Atlantic, Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. The University of North Carolina Press, P.O. Box 2288, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288.

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