Here’s a pretty fascinating story coming out of the Atlantic this week.
Archaeologists working on Sable Island may have uncovered a rare historic shipwreck, and it’s something that could date back to before the 1900s.
Sable Island has long been known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Over the past four centuries, more than 350 ships are believed to have been lost in the waters around the island. Storms, fog, strong currents, and massive underwater sandbars made the area incredibly dangerous for sailors navigating the North Atlantic.
Researchers with Parks Canada began digging at the site after shifting sands exposed pieces of a wreck along the island’s North Beach. During the excavation they uncovered wooden and copper fragments that appear to be remarkably well preserved, and some even carry markings linked to the British Royal Navy.
That’s led historians to believe the wreck could possibly be tied to ships lost in the early 1800s, including vessels like the HMS Barbadoes, the sloop Swift, or the schooner Emeline. If that connection is confirmed, it would be one of the rare cases where archaeologists can match a Sable Island wreck to a specific historical ship.
One of the challenges is that Sable Island is constantly shifting. The 44-kilometre sandbar moves and reshapes itself with storms and ocean currents, meaning pieces of wrecks are often buried for decades before suddenly reappearing again.
So in many ways, archaeologists say the island itself decides when it’s ready to reveal its stories.
And this latest discovery could be another piece of Atlantic Canada’s long maritime history finally coming back to the surface.
Check out this video about it below!
