a visit to the ledges

You can see the rock ledges in the western channel when the tide is low. The rest of the time they are submerged, and no buoys mark their presence. These ledges, and the overall shallowness of the western channel, are the reasons it's named False Passage on the nautical charts. There is one particular ledge where the seals gather for choir practice, which they feel especially inspired to do on foggy days. The ledges belong to the shag and the terns, too. Terns are more camera-shy than shag, though.
The shag's other name is cormorant. In south shore Nova Scotia they are shag.
When the Atlantic is rough it sends strong waves into the channel. Then the waves crash over the ledges even when they are submerged, sending plumes of white spray into the air. But when the sea is calm I can even row out here.

a trip home

Here are a few sights of a trip yesterday from Fort Point to McNutt's Island.Sandy Point Lighthouse stands on the eastern side of Shelburne Harbour, opposite Fort Point. It marks the beginning of the inner harbour and the Town of Shelburne.McNutt's Island comes into view as you pass the conspicuous boulder at Fort Point.
View of McNutt's, from the northwest.
A view of the island's eastern shoreline, looking south along the eastern channel and out to sea.Shelburne Harbour Boat Tour's Brown Eyed Girl is coming home, too. Yesterday she sailed from Lockeport to Shelburne.
The captain of Chopper I.
The Fish House.
Coming into the dock. We are currently flying the flag of Queen Elizabeth. You are only supposed to fly it when she is in residence. She's not actually on McNutt's Island, but she is somewhere in Canada this week. So we are stretching a point here and hoping the flag police are distracted by bigger crimes elsewhere.

summer rockweed harvesting

This morning the rockweed harvesters are going along the cove shoreline to gather this valuable sea plant into their deep-bottomed boats.They fill their boats almost to the rim, then head back --slowly -- to the wharf on the mainland. They appreciate calm waters.
This is Kurtis Ross. He says his boat will take a bit more rockweed onboard before he heads in.
Later in the morning we were headed to the mainland when we met up with Kurtis and his friend, going into Gunning Cove Wharf.
We tried to stay out of their way.

McNutt's Island Geography: Anthony Lockwood's map, 1816

Here's a map from Anthony Lockwood's A Brief Description of Nova Scotia (1818). Anthony Lockwood made a report to the to the newly established Commissioners of Light Houses in 1816. Up until then Nova Scotia's lighthouses had been under the authority of the Commissioners of Revenue. The same year the regulation of lighthouses was clarified by the House of Assembly. Lighthouse keepers would be paid an established annual salary, and would be expected to live full-time at the light.In 1816 there were only four lighthouses along the Nova Scotia coast, at Halifax, Shelburne, Liverpool and Brier Island. The light at Shelburne was the second one to be built. Its foundation stone was laid in January 1787, and it was completed in October 1790. It must have been a very arduous task to build this lighthouse. It would have required vast transportation of workers and equipment and supplies from Shelburne to the only possible landing sites, along the western cove, and then across the thickly forested island, to the cape on its southern end.

Even after the lighthouse was completed, it was not lit for another two years, first shining out of its distinctive two windows on September 7, 1792.

At the time of this map, Alexander Hood Cocken was keeper on McNutt's Island. He had taken over lighthouse duties after the death of his father Alexander Cocken, the first keeper, in 1812.

I found this map in W.O. Raymond, "Colonel McNutt and the Pre-Loyalist Settlements of Nova Scotia," Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 3rd series, vol.V, 1911, sec.II, 23-115, p.97. The map and article can be found online at www.archive.org.

McNutt's geography: Des Barres chart of 1776

The J.F.W.Des Barres charts and maps in his Atlantic Neptune series (London, 1776-1781) help us remember what an isolated place Port Roseway was before the coming of the vast Loyalist tide in 1783. I have magnified this map and searched all over the shoreline for settlements. The only ones noted by the famously meticulous Des Barres (beside McNutt's place on the island) are two small clusters on the western shore of the harbour, across from what is now McNutt's Island. Des Barres called it Roseneath. There were no settlements at all where the Town of Shelburne now stands.
It makes sense. The western channel, called False Passage, was and is relatively tranquil and shallow, and the clusters of settlements are protected. Each cluster is located near a small bay and a sandy beach. And they are close enough to the ocean that small boats could come in and go out without the effort it would take to sail or row all the way into the inner harbour.

Today you can look across the western channel and see where those two settlements were so long ago, along the shore directly opposite here, at Carleton Village, and a bit south, directly across from the sheep pen, at Craine's Point and Roseway.
Here is Des Barres' map of Barrington Bay from the same time, showing the lots and buildings in Barrington. By 1776 Barrington was a recognizable place. It was hard to get to Barrington from Port Roseway, though, even though it was so near. It was almost impossible to walk there, across spruce forest and deadfall and swamp, and difficult to maneuver boats through the shoals and breakers along the coast. It gives us the faintest idea of how isolated the people at Port Roseway must have been back then.

Pages from The Atlantic Neptune are courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, London England.

McNutt's geography: Samuel Champlain's map of 1607

Samuel Champlain made a map of this coastline in 1607.  In terms of accuracy it's not up to his usual standards. But people think he was in a hurry, or maybe there was a lot of fog the day he sailed by. For whatever reason, it was a broad-brush effort. Maybe he wanted to document the dangerous places along the coast, for sailors. And you can see them here, innocent looking little circles to indicate the deadly shoals, breakers and rocks that are sprinkled through the waters from Cape Forchu (Yarmouth) up to Port Rossignol (Liverpool).

The map is a reminder of what an unsettled place this was. Champlain shows houses where a few French traders may have lived back then, around what are now the many many villages of Pubnico, and at Rossignol. But in the interior, the mapmaker shows nothing but trees. It's still like that, more or less.

There is  a three-branched harbour in about the centre of the coastline. That is probably what is now called Shelburne Harbour, or maybe Shelburne Harbour and Jordan Bay shown together as one. Champlain seems to have labelled it Port d'Negro. There's an island in the harbour, which could be what's now called McNutt's. Just to the south of it, in its more-or-less correct place, is Cape Negro.

It gives me the shivers to think that Samuel Champlain sailed past this place, even in the fog.



Thanks to Terry Deveau for sharing this map with me. The original is in the US Library of Congress.

Encounter with The Major

The Major was alone in the lower apple orchard yesterday. I thought he might not mind if I were to take a few pictures of him. As long as I was discreet.
At this time of year the apple trees show no sign of the glory to come, except for the slightest swelling of buds.
Sometimes we see The Major alone, as he is here, ruminating and contemplating.
He didn't seem to be disturbed by my presence. Though he certainly was aware of it from the moment I began to walk down the bog path toward the lower orchard.
I am often struck by The Major's gentle dignity. Though when I think about it, it seems to me that most of the other sheep share these same traits. They are peaceful animals.You can see the Point in the background here, which is the shingle beach that defines the southern arm of Hagar's Cove. And in the distance beyond the Point you can see Grey's Island, that small and magical place, a kingdom of mice.

Almost spring meander

Another calm and sunny day. We wanted to explore an interior bog-like place that shows up on the Google Earth satellite picture of the island. Actually, from looking at that satellite picture you can see that huge swaths of the interior are bogs.

But the interior bogs are secret places, ringed all around by forests so that you can't see them from the road.
We walked along a forest path that was made either by a deer hunter or a surveyor. In either case they went to a lot of trouble.

Or it could have been made by the gnomes, since one of their houses lies along it.

Then we walked into the bog. This particular bog is well along in its transition to a forest. Long, long ago it would have been a glacial depression, then a pond. Now the spruce are moving in. Bayberry is well established, and the ground around those bushes is fairly firm.

But there are many places where it would be impossible to walk without getting sucked down to the nether world. And we saw lots of northern pitcher plants and sphagnum moss, both bog species.

I felt surprised to find myself standing inside this large open space that can't be seen from the outside. It made me wonder how many more places like this there are on the island. But unless there's some sort of trail or path into them, they really are very hard to reach.

Along the eastern shore

It was warm and sunny the other day. We had wanted to go scavenging along the eastern side of the island, and it was finally a good day for it. Dylan and Devon went scavenging last week, but since then there had been another good storm to wash more treasures ashore. We are lucky that we never have to worry about being beaten by the competition. There's always more where that came from.

Walking along the eastern shore is in some ways even more treacherous than walking along the shore west of the lighthouse. There's no higher ground where you can occasionally retreat from the ever-present rolling rocks beneath your feet. You must just trudge along and not take your eyes off your next step. That means no multi-tasking. If you want to look around then you need to stop walking. One thing at a time.

As you walk south in the direction of the lighthouse there are cliffs on your right, topped with forests of spruce. Sometimes the cliffs drop down until the island's edge is on a level with the shore. But the forest is too dense to enter easily from the shore. Some of the cliffs reveal deposits of clay, which may have been used for brick making in earlier times. Some of the old maps show a place named "red bank" along here.

We came upon a pond just inside the shingle beach.

We watched a few lobster boats coming home along the eastern channel. You can see Government Point in the background, the site of the former military base.
Here's a view of the eastern shore looking back toward Sandy Point and Shelburne.

Classic cobble beach, as far as the eye can see. If you were to walk further south, almost to Cape Roseway, the shoreline would be much more dramatic.

We brought home a pretty nice haul.

McNutt's geography: Lobster Fishing Areas map

This map from the Department of Fisheries gives you the scope of Lobster Fishing Areas 33 and 34. The seasons are different for various LFAs. Some are in the summer. Some LFAs are only open for a month or so. LFAs 33 and 34 have the toughest season since it begins now and runs through May. The boats don't go out, though, when the weather is too rough. This business of catching lobsters is dangerous enough even on calm days.

By sighting the boundary between LFA 34 and LFA 33, then looking to the right a tad to the longest inlet, you will have located Shelburne Harbour. McNutt's Island sits on the outermost edge of it.

For more information you can go to the DFO web site.

Along the western shore

The weather this week has been sunny and mild, so today I went for a walk along the western shore, south of the cove.
I looked at old foundations of houses that once were along that shore. You can take a look at the A.F. Church Map of 1882 to see the names of six families who lived along here then.

I surprised the flock of sheep that lives down that way.

They decided to melt away into the woods, where they imagined they had become invisible.
One open area is defined by five big piles of rocks. They were cleared out of the ground to make a field long ago. They were thrown into piles on top of boulders that were too big to move. But the ground is still filled with rocks. There are several foundations along this shore. It was a good location for fishermen. They had no commute at all to get to work, since the fish were in their front yard. But it would have been a harsh place to live in winter, so exposed to ocean winds and storms.
Eventually I came to Sloop Rock, a conspicuous boulder about twenty feet high.
Soon after that the shore line turns toward the east, and the lighthouse is revealed, across a marsh.
It is always a joy to see Cape Roseway Light.

As I walked home in the dimming light, the hackmatack glowed golden -- the last of the trees to give up its autumn colour.

McNutts geography: James Park map of 1785

This map by James Park is dated 1785, only two years after the first Loyalists arrived at Port Roseway. It's a military map made by an engineer in the royal navy; its primary purpose is navigational. The Town of Shelburne is shown on the far left of the page, deep inside the inner harbour. This map makes quite clear the importance of the large island sitting at the entrance of Port Roseway Harbour, as it was then called. Ships need to enter through the eastern way. The west side of the island is a bit of a backwater, accessible only to local traffic, rowboats and small shallops, perhaps, or accessible to bigger vessels only on the high tide.
Note the pilot settlement at Carleton Point (later called Fort Point). By 1785 Carleton/Fort Point was the location of the British fort, indicated by a square. The island is not named, but Mr. Nutt's settlement is designated along its northeastern side.

Map courtesy of NSARM.