Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1900-08-10
GRIM SABLE ISLAND.
THIS WRECK sTREwN SAND BAR IS
DOOMED BY THE SEA.

One of the Weird Legends of This
Ocean Graveyard A Woman In
White, n bleeding ToreHnEer and
Ring Sold In Halifax.
sable island belongs to Nova Scotia.
Is las miles from Halifax and s5 miles
cast Of Cape Canso," writes Gustay
Kobbe In Ainslees. ut is n trceless.
shrubless waste, scanned by wind and
wave and OF ever changing aspect. A
cone shaped hill near the east end.
once mere undulation of sand. Is now
over 100 feet high ard is still growing.
other hillocks are gradually being
moved away by storms. The hillocks
are liable to be Undermined SO swiftly
and swept out of existence that they
are carefully watched from the vnrious
stations on the island. there being
no certainty how far an inroad of the
sea will extend after each successful
attack. Even the coarse grass of the
Island grows In n different manner
from that of the mainland. It does not
bear seed. but shoots up from roots
which run along under the sand. Dur
Ing the winter the sand is blown over
the grass and burles II sometimes three
or four feet deep. but the hardy blades
grow up next season. as IL the island
sands had protected them from the
cold Of winter In order to make them
all the stronger.
'"The island itself is fighting for self
preservation. 1t seems as If 1t drew
ships into Its fatal embrace as rallying
points for its loose and shifting sand,
thus to protect itself by a bulwark of
wrecks against annihilatlon by the sea.
Tradition says that when Sable island
was discovered by Cabot In 1447 II was
so miles long and 10 miles wide. In
1902. when rescue station was estnb-
lished there, IL was only 40 miles long.
Since then II has shrunk to but little
more than 20 miles in length. and In
width 1t is only a mile at Its widest.
Within 2S years the western end lost
seven miles. ShoalsAever which the
ocean now surges are pointed out as
former sites of lighthouses One of
these WAS so swiftly undermined by
the sea that 1t had to be abandoned
with the greatest precipitation. The
spot where once stood the superlntend-
eut's house Is now under two fathoms
of water.
'The island. rapidly diminishing at
Its western end. is slightly gaining at
It's eastern. Slowly, like a ship drag
Cling its anchor, It is moving eastward.
VIII II ever reach the edge Of the
shoals. stand tottering on the brink Of
the abyss till II receives Its coup de
grace and plunge over the submarine
bank forever into the depths? Unfor
tunately its end viii probably be less
dramatic. There is good ground for
believing that this gray sand bar will /
slowly wear away until It becomes an
other submerged shoRl added to an am
buscade already some 60 miles In |
length. for n line OF breakers extends |
l0 miles from one end of the Island and |
% miles from the other.
"ln the space of n single year Sable |
Island claimed more than 200 lives. In
fact, so many wrecks line the shoals
Of this ocean graveyard that the new |
pile up on the old. like bodies heaped |
In one ditch. The Crofton Hall. an iron
sailing ship wrecked few years ago
on the northeast bar. broke in two
about amidshlps. The pieces have
1rifted together again. and the Island
ers suppose that she struck crosswise
upon an old submerged wreck and Is
settling over it, which accounts for the
two parts coming together. Nor Is the
Island satisfied with the awful tribute
which II exacts from the living. The
same informant who writes me about
the Crofton Hall adds that the bark !
John Mcleod. which was wrecked off
DEVILS Island at the entrance to Hall.
FAX harbOr, drlfted ashore on Sable is
and bottom up, wreck of a wreck
"One of the grlmmest legends of Sa.
Die island dates from the wreck of the
IF truth connected with il to show
what bloody deeds were added on that
to the terrors Of shlpwreck
captain Torrens, who commanded the
sunboat which was dispatched TO Sable
sland after the wreck OF the Amelia,
vas one OF the survivors of the second
disaster. A passenger on the lost trans.
bort was Lady Copeland. on her way
o join her husband. The captain OF
he gunboat had been told that she
Tore on her fore1nger a ring OF pecul.
ar article.
'The story has 1t that Captain Tor.
ems, wandering over the island one
light In search Of possible survivors.
vas attracted by the plteous whining
# his dog In front Of a small. open
ihelter known to have existed at that
ime, but long since toppled to pieces.
the shelter. he was star
led to see the figure Of woman all lp
white and holding toward him the
bleeding stump OF forehnger. While
le was gazing at the apparitlon II rose,
ilently glided past him and dived into
he sea. Bnt time and again ths-aafter