Sable island that moves. The dark secrets of the drifting Sable Island. Sable is a living alien organism

Refers to inhabited islands. There are 5 people living on Sable who work at the meteorological station and monitor the lighthouse. Note that previously the staff was larger and numbered 15-25 people. Since over time the danger from Sable ceased, the contingent was reduced.

Geographic coordinates of the island:43°55?57? With. w. 59°52?48? h. d.

Many call this place not just mysterious, but damned. Believe me, there are reasons for this. No one can say with certainty how many ships were lost here. Some put the figure at 350, others about 500. The important thing is that for many Sable was the last thing they saw in their lives. " Cemetery of the Atlantic"- the sailors call him. Inexplicably, the sand on the shores of the “living island” has the property of “adjusting” to the color of the sea waves. This optical effect is the main reason for the death of ships. The ships (especially in bad weather) crashed into the coastline at all speeds, and the crew until the collision thought that there was only an immense ocean ahead...

Some lucky ones managed to survive and lived on the island for some time. But the stranded ships had the same fate - they were swallowed up by quicksand. In two months even from large ships there was no trace left! (hence the phrase “ ship eater»).

The etymology of the island's name also causes a lot of controversy. British geographers claim that it comes from the English. “sable”, which translates as “sable”. Let us immediately note that sables are not and have not been found here. Most likely, it was taken as a basis that the island somewhat resembled this animal (as if in a jump).

A separate group of etymologists believes that the “fault” of this name is a historical mistake. In their opinion, before the island was called Saber, but some unlucky cartographer wrote another instead of one letter (“R” > “L”). The reasons for such a campaign are obvious. Translated from English, the word “sabre” means “saber” (this is better than sable). Well, the last option is taken from the explanatory dictionary. The name of the island can be translated as gloomy, scary or black (poetic form).

By the way, about poets. Sable's stories and "reputation" have inspired many writers, including Thomas-Chandler Haliburton, James MacDonald, Thomas H. Ruddal and others.

STORY. LEGENDS

Not only the etymology of Sable's name is controversial, but also the name of the discoverer. Most researchers (especially from Norway) agree that the Vikings made the first landing on the island more than a thousand years ago. Brave bearded sailors visited these waters much earlier than Columbus!

Scientists from France do not agree with the “Viking version” and claim that ordinary fishermen from Normandy were the first to land here at the beginning of the 16th century.

The British, accustomed to being original, list their whalers who sailed near Newfoundland as discoverers.

The fourth group of scientists refutes all three versions and says that Sable simply did not exist 500 years ago! It was 5 centuries ago that a piece of land separated from the mainland and began to “float” into the open ocean. But when asked how this is possible, they shrug their shoulders...

But we need names, not just theories. Therefore, we will consider him the discoverer of the “living island” Jean de Lery(no one else has more arguments in favor).

The traveler is known for living with the Indians for many years South America. And it was Leri who organized the expedition from Europe to Nova Scotia (then it was called the “Land of the Bretons”). And everything with the name is logical: Jean de Lery called the island “Sable” - “sand” in French.

There is evidence that the shores of the island were often visited by sea pirates (perhaps they even hid treasure). The robbers specially lit fires to attract ships with well-stocked holds.

In the 90s of the 16th century, Sable became a hard laborer. The point is that returning after unsuccessful expedition to France, the Marquis De La Roche decided to “settle” almost 50 people (all criminals) on the island. Probably, in order to somehow assuage his conscience, the captain gave the newly minted islanders 5 dozen sheep. 7 years passed and the “settlers” were remembered (they probably didn’t even have time to blink an eye). The king decided to pardon them and in 1605, 11 prisoners returned to their native France (the rest died). You'll never guess what 5 people said! - " Your Majesty, allow us to return to the island..."The king gave his go-ahead." A French colony has appeared on Sable and has saved the crew of an English ship to its credit!

After this, permanent residents appeared on the “ship devourer” only in late XIX century. The British were tired of losing ships, and it was decided to build a lighthouse on Sable (1873). The settlers served it, and when a disaster occurred, they acted as rescuers.

In 1867, Sable Island became part of Canada. Over the course of 5 years, the Canadians built two lighthouses (eastern and western). Then a radio beacon appeared. These days, Sable is a protected area.

The first “devouring” of a ship by Sable was recorded back in 1583. Then an English ship called “Delight”, part of Humphy Gilbert’s expedition, rammed the sands of the island due to poor visibility. The last disaster is considered to be the shipwreck in 1947: the steamship Manhasset could not avoid a collision with the island. The entire crew was saved. However, we managed to find information according to which in 1999 the yacht Merrimac “met” with the sands of the “living island” (the navigation instruments malfunctioned). The three-person crew was not injured. The fate of the yacht is unknown.

If you want to get acquainted with the history of Sable Island in detail, we recommend reading books such as “Sable Island: Its History and Phenomena” (1894, George Petterson); Sable Island, Fatal and Fertile Crescent (1974) and Sable Island Shipwrecks: Disaster and Survival at the North Atlantic Graveyard (1994) by Leal Campbell; "Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins and Curious History of Sable Island" (2004, Marc de Villiers). ©Added 04/18/2015 Lev Skryagin, a Soviet sailor and writer, also mentions the island in his book “Secrets of Sea Disasters”. Here is an excerpt from his book:

Were the Romans on Sable?!

This story dates back to the late 30s. last century. Near our Sable, bad weather raged for several days in a row; the storms were unusually strong even for these places. Giant waves literally “shaved” the island, removing balls of sand from it. Only God knows how many hundreds of tons were washed away from the shores. When the ocean had played enough, a scientific expedition arrived on the island. She discovered a huge pit in which there were eight ships that at different times were buried in the sands of Sable. The surprise of the researchers was endless when, among other ships, the remains of...a Roman galley were discovered! There has been debate in scientific circles about where the ancient galley could have come from here. The ocean put an end to the dispute: a new storm covered the “grave of ships” with sand. The question remains open to this day...

Aliens are close...

In the 90s of the 20th century, a new hypothesis was voiced regarding the origin of Sable Island. This time experts in the field of anomalous phenomena showed up. " The island is not just an anomalous zone of the Earth - it is a living organism, and not of Earthly origin!"(D. Pable, W. Laines). A bold assumption, isn't it? Of course, no one undertook to explain the principles of “life” and functioning of the bioboard. It was believed that the basis for the NPO (unidentified floating object) is silicon (Silicium). Let's remember the school chemistry course... What is silicon dioxide? It's sand! Ordinary sand, of which there is so much on Sable...

Could Sable be a “research laboratory” for our space neighbors? Who knows...

Spirits of evil

A short fact. To this day, if you ask Nova Scotians what they think about Sable Island, they will say something like this: “It’s an island of ghosts. The spirits of evil live there."

CLIMATE

The climate of Sable Island is humid continental. In autumn and winter it is almost constantly stormy here, and the waves sometimes reach 16 meters! The “Graveyard of the Atlantic” is located in a place where the warm Gulf Stream and the cool current of Labrador meet. As a result, there is frequent fog over the island. Sometimes there are category 3 winds (according to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane classification). Don't think that it's always harsh here. Sable's climate will be milder than Nova Scotia's. In winter, the temperature usually does not drop below -13 ° C (average +5 to -5 ° C). In summer, the thermometer can show as high as 25 ° C (August).

RELIEF. FLORA AND FAUNA

Relief of Sable Island almost flat. Sometimes sand dunes reach 35 meters (the height is not constant due to frequent winds).

At the beginning of the article we mentioned the “movement” of the island. Now more about this.

Experts have long noticed a strange phenomenon - the island is moving to east direction at a speed of approximately 220 m per year and “goes” into deep waters Atlantic Ocean. In the 19th century, geographers even predicted its complete disappearance. But nothing like that happened! Moreover, the movement continues. Who knows, maybe one day Sable will make it to Portugal?! :fellow: Sable contradicts the laws of geology. All geologists scratch their heads when asked about a “living island.” Of course, it’s generally accepted that the Earth’s tectonic plates, if they move, do so at a maximum speed of a couple of millimeters per year (in rare cases they talk about centimeters), but here it’s two hundred meters. What are your thoughts on this matter? After all, no one will deny that the islands of the world are the tops of seamounts that are located on a tectonic plate?

A rational explanation for the “living island” phenomenon may be the fact that from the west Sable is constantly eroded by sea currents and waves - the sand is washed away and it is transferred to east coast. But this is all debatable...

Now about clearer and non-controversial points. Almost half of Sable's territory is covered with vegetation. 175 species of different plants have taken root on it. You can often find honkenia butterflower, allspice, shrubs, rose hips, orchids (6 species!), wild peas, etc. Trees don't grow here. All landing attempts ended in failure. The federal government attempted to stabilize the area by planting nearly 80,000 trees, but to no avail. Although there is still one tree. This is an ordinary pine, planted back in the 50s. last century. Its height is no more than 3 meters.

Over the entire period of observations, more than 300 species of birds were seen on the island. Waterfowl (for example, Arctic tern) feel comfortable here. Common buntings (Passerculus sandwichensis), sandpipers, and great sea gulls can be seen.

©Added 02/06/2016Among the fauna, it is worth noting large colonies of common and gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) - they have a mating season on Sable. The Guinness Book of Records notes that it is on Sable that the largest colony of gray seals is located in winter: about 100 thousand individuals come here annually for “mating meetings”.

In winter and early spring, ringed seals and crested seals are found. Zoologists claim that Greenland sharks and white sharks sometimes visit the coast of the island.

The “main” animals (and also the only land mammals other than humans) remain horses. According to our data, there are now about 320 horses on Sable. Some of them are tamed by the island's caretakers. It is generally accepted that animals appeared on the island at the end of the 18th century. They most likely came here from one of the ships that was buried here. The odd-toed ungulates not only survived - they managed to fully adapt to the harsh conditions here. In the 60s Canada took wild horses and ponies under its protection.

For many centuries, Sable Island has struck genuine terror into the hearts of sailors. This dark, mysterious and mysterious place has gained such notoriety due to many shipwrecks that it has become known as the “ship devourer”, “ship graveyard”, “deadly saber” or “graveyard of the Atlantic”.

The island is located in the North Atlantic, 180 km southeast of Halifax (Nova Scotia), where the cold Labrador Current meets the warm Gulf Stream. It has the shape of an elongated crescent and is very small in size. Its length is only a little over 40 kilometers, and its width reaches one and a half kilometers at its widest point.

The island's topography consists of sandy hills and long dunes interspersed with small areas of grassy land. The highest hill on the island reaches a height of 34 meters and is called Riggin Hill. There are several lakes, the largest and deepest of which is Lake Wallace. Its depth reaches 4 meters. The water in it is brackish, since the reservoir is very close to the ocean. High waves during storms easily overcome a narrow stretch of land and sea salt dilutes the fresh water.

Under the influence of waves and currents, the western end of the island gradually erodes and disappears, while the eastern end erodes and lengthens. As a result, the island is moving at a speed of 230 meters per year, moving further and further into the open ocean. Over the past 200 years, the island has drifted almost 40 km from the mainland.

For passing ships, especially during waves, the island is almost invisible, since its height above ocean level is low. Only in clear weather, which happens here only in July, can one discern a narrow strip of sand on the horizon from the deck of the ship. Despite the fact that the ocean is quiet at this time of year, you can only approach the island by boat from the north side.

The sands of the island's shallows are quicksand and they tend to take on color ocean water. This is the main danger that awaits ships near Sable. The sands of the wandering island literally swallow up the ships that are captured by them. It is known that steamships with a displacement of five thousand tons and a length of 100-120 meters that found themselves on the Sable shallows completely disappeared into the “quagmire” within two to three months.

This piece of land, with its minimal height, rapid movement, and constant storms, seems to have been created for the destruction of sailors. The first “devouring” of a ship by Sable was recorded back in 1583. Then an English ship called “Delight”, part of Humphy Gilbert’s expedition, rammed the sands of the island due to poor visibility. The last disaster is considered to be a shipwreck in 1947 - the steamer Manhasset could not avoid a collision with the island. The entire crew was saved. There are only eight recorded cases where ships managed to escape from the island's quicksand and avoid death.

Behind last years There has not been a single case of the death of a large vessel in the sands of Sable Island.

Moving under the influence of ocean waves, the sandbanks of the island sometimes reveal the remains of ships that disappeared a long time ago. So, in the late 70s of the 20th century, after another storm, the hull of an American ship was visible from the sand, which disappeared without a trace in the last century. Three months later, the sand again buried this ship in its thickness.

Nomadic Sable Island is undoubtedly a mystery.

Elena Krumbo, especially for the “World of Secrets” website

It is believed that the discoverers of the island at the beginning of the 16th century were Portuguese sailors.

Its first name was Santa Cruz, which translated means “Island of the Holy Cross”. Later it received its current name - Sable (according to various sources, translated it means “sable”, “sand” or “saber”). Some sailors nicknamed the island Mourning. This is due to the fact that it was here that a large number of different ships perished: English, Portuguese, French. A lot of pirate ships also crashed near this island.

According to another version, the discoverers of this Sable Island were the Vikings, who landed on it 1000 years ago. This is not surprising, given their lifestyle and desire for endless travel. But some researchers provide facts that deny this statement.

It is assumed that this piece of land became an independent island only 500 years ago. Until that time, it was part of the continent, but then, for some reason, it separated from it and began to gradually move into the oceanic expanses.

From the very beginning, Sable may have been quite impressive in size: it was around 300 km wide and 370 km long. Scientists found such data in nautical charts dating back to the 16th century. This means that at that time the island had already been found. But the only thing that is unknown is what the relief and soil were like on it then.

According to some scientists, none other than Jean de Lery is the discoverer of Sable. This famous traveler, originally from France, who lived for some time among the Indians of South America. This means that such an event could have occurred at the beginning of the second half of the 16th century. A small number of historians point to the English whalers, who could also have been the first to discover this island. One way or another, the question of the discoverer still remains unfinished.

Sable is called "Shipwreck Island"

So, what sinister secrets does Sable Island hide? What is so mystical and unusual about it? Why does he so scare more than one generation of sailors? And why do sailors so often in taverns and taverns tell each other terrible stories about the cursed Shipwreck Island or, as it is also called, the Graveyard of the Atlantic, avoiding saying its real name out loud?

Sable Island has long been of interest to researchers from various countries. Back in the 20th century, they managed to notice one interesting feature. As is known, Sable is influenced by a strong sea current from the Western side. And it is still unknown how long powerful waves have been contributing to the erosion of the coastal zone of Sable.

But the most amazing thing is that on the eastern side of the island, new sand deposits are constantly growing, as if by magic. But where do they come from, because neither the laws of physics, nor even the simple logic of things can explain this phenomenon. In addition, there is another mystery that researchers also cannot solve. This is that the island is in endless motion, which is also still inexplicable, and besides, throughout its many-hundred-year history of existence, it has changed its length indicators very slightly.

“Shipwreck Island”, like a large and predatory monster, is moving towards its goal - to the east. The research data is amazing, because the island is moving eastward at a speed of approximately 200 meters per year.

Almost a whole year water element, washing the shores of Sable, bad weather is raging. But July is the only month when a boat can land on the island. During this period, the sea elements completely calm down on the northern side of the island.

Sable Island is very treacherous. It conceals a formidable weapon against sailors - sharp reefs located close to the shoals. The reefs are absolutely amazingly painted in a bluish color and “dissolve” against the background of the sea surface. Thanks to this property, they become almost invisible. Therefore, ships easily fall into a trap. This phenomenon has existed for a very long time, and 200, and 300, and 400 years ago, entire ships were lost.

At first, only small ships made of wood received this fate. Gradually it was the turn for sailing ships, and later for huge ships. The sand sucked in everything that floated towards Sable Island, regardless of size. It is also interesting that, having fallen into a trap, the ship sank into the sand very slowly and unhurriedly. The island seemed to be intently trying to “taste” what the ship tasted like.

But with each subsequent day, the immersion in the sand became faster and faster. It took only two weeks for the island to half-absorb a large ship. And the huge ship completely disappeared into quicksand in just a month and a half, it was as if he had never existed at all.



Sable Island Horses

Nowadays, sometimes near the island you can see part of the hull of a ship when the sand is washed out a little by water. You can see both ships of the 20th century and sailing ships that existed in the 17th century. Gradually the sands are washed with water again and hide their crimes. The island keeps the history of these ships under its sands.

Sailors who lost their ships in the greedy sands of Sable Island often made it to land and lived quite well on it. In order to somehow survive, people used fresh water, which could be found in the Sable lakes. Various vegetation and the remains of a ship helped them build houses. They often ate fur seals.

Fortunately, this was the favorite island for these animals, and they lived on it in entire colonies. However, the sailors had a hard time when the seals' mating season ended and they swam far from the island. They returned only after 6 months, which, of course, affected the condition of people if they arrived on the island during this period.

Horses began to live on this unusual island in the 18th century. Perhaps they got there as a result of a shipwreck, however, this remains unclear. These animals were able to survive in harsh conditions for them, and even fully adapt to them.

Now the island has about 300 individuals of these animals. People also managed to settle on Sable at the end of the 19th century. These were English civil servants who, due to endless shipwrecks, installed a lighthouse on the island. The employees served as lighthouse keepers and also acted as rescuers.

In the middle of the 20th century mysterious island a radio beacon and two beacons were installed. And in the 21st century, Sable was officially recognized as a protected area. In this regard, wild horses and fur seals living on the island are protected objects. You can get to the Sable itself only with special permission.

Now this land belongs to Canada. Civil servants live on the island with their families, and the number of people is around 30. Specialists maintain the radio station, lighthouses and monitor the proper functioning of the Hydrometeorological Center. In addition, the employees are professionally trained rescuers, but, fortunately, their help has not been needed for a long time, since there have been no shipwrecks near the island for 65 years.



There are not many buildings on the island. There are only two houses that are installed according to all the rules on a solid foundation. Everything else is trailer houses and one hangar for boats that are used for rescue. There is also a monument on Sable that includes the names of ships that crashed near its shores. It is constructed from ship masts, and this chronology dates back to 1800. Looking at this monument, there is no doubt that hundreds of ships were lost in the area of ​​the Sable coast.

Sable is a living alien organism

Despite the fact that the island has long been inhabited, it still remains one of the most mysterious places on the planet. The most amazing thing is, given its movement into the ocean, it should have disappeared under water 40 years ago. But, in an absolutely incredible way, it still exists, and has even increased in size. The island definitely hides some secrets, and the most important of them is why does it always sail in an easterly direction?

Many researchers have tried to excavate it, but to no avail. The island instantly fills the dug space with water; even the fastening material could not help the scientists. Some brave researchers of the 20th century put forward the hypothesis that Sable Island is an alien organism, and exists in the form of a kind of biorobot. He is probably collecting information for some other inhabitants of the Universe.

Perhaps a little time will pass, and the mysteries of the unusual Sable Island will be revealed, who knows?

It seems that the time when humanity sacredly trusted myths has gone forever. To explain something incomprehensible, we have science, thanks to which the place of the gods on the celestial chariots was taken by aliens, and the tambourines of shamans, who predicted the weather, were replaced by meteorological satellites. But, despite all the achievements of progress, human nature is still attracted by the incomprehensible and mystical.

On the verge of fiction

2012 - the film “Life of Pi” was released, based on the novel of the same name by Yann Martel. This adventure drama (which, by the way, won four Oscars) depicts a mysterious carnivorous island located somewhere in the middle of Pacific Ocean. According to the plot of the book, during the day this island was a paradise, but at night it turns into a trap for all living things. After sunset, the algae that made up the island begin to secrete acid, and the lake located here becomes an acidic vat, digesting all living things. The only salvation was in the treetops, where they could wait out the night while the surface of the island bled gastric juice.

Fortunately, the movie predator island is a fiction, but, as you know, there is some truth in every fairy tale. For example, a thousand miles from Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean is located, which at first glance is tropical paradise with lush vegetation, picturesque lagoons, reefs, white sand and everything else that attracts tourists. However, this island is uninhabited, and among those who have visited it, there is an opinion that Palmyra has a living and, without a doubt, black aura. External prosperity here is very deceptive: the weather changes instantly, calm lagoons are teeming with sharks, algae release toxic substances, and the surface of the island is full of poisonous insects. Even the fish that live in the creeks and lakes of the island are inedible, and a feeling of strange melancholy and hopelessness hangs in the air.

During World War II, the Americans used Palmyra as a springboard for an attack on Japan, but according to the soldiers who stayed there for several months, island life seemed like hell to them. The landing force was plagued by a series of mysterious suicides. The psychologically exhausted unit turned into a gang of deserters that wandered around the island and did God knows what. The reason for the unexpected soldiers' madness remained a mystery.

Ship Devourer

In the North Atlantic, one hundred and ten miles southeast of the Canadian port of Halifax, Sable Island is located, which is deservedly considered the most dangerous island ever marked on navigational charts. The peculiarity of Sable is that it is a sandbank, which, as a result of the meeting of the warm Gulf Stream and the cold Labrador Current, moves at a speed of 200-230 meters per year! Over the past two hundred years, Sable has “sailed” forty kilometers from Canada, although, of course, this “swim” should not be taken literally. The fact is that the western part of the island is constantly being washed away by waves, and the eastern, on the contrary, is overgrown with sand, like living tissue. In fact, these are quicksand in the ocean, and any ship washed ashore disappears without a trace after 2-3 months. The exact number of ships that hit the damned piece of land is unknown, but it definitely exceeded a hundred.

The island's main killer weapon is that it has an almost flat surface, and it is almost impossible to see it from the sea, especially during the storm season with fifteen-meter waves. According to legend, the sand that covers the island is like a chameleon, and even in clear weather is colored the color of the surrounding ocean. The ability to mimicry is characteristic only of living organisms, which led many sailors to think that the island, with its quicksand and sharp reefs, was “hunting” passing ships.

Sable was first depicted on official maps in the 16th century. At that time the length of the island was almost 200 miles. IN XIX century scientists assumed that Sable, which had shrunk almost 10 times over the previous 300 years, would soon completely disappear from the surface of the earth, but this did not happen. Moreover, over the past 100 years it has increased by two miles.

Almost every island on the planet is the surface part of a mountain, which, in turn, is located on tectonic plates. Islands cover our planet like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, moving at speeds of several millimeters per year. Sable's travel speed is 100,000 times greater, suggesting that the island has no physical connection to any of Earth's tectonic plates. Numerous questions, to which there are still no intelligible answers, have pushed some scientists to the sensational and, at first glance, completely crazy idea that Sable is something like a living organism, which is based on silicon, and not carbon, like all living beings on our planet. If you agree with this theory, then you can try to explain where the sand comes from on the eastern part of the island, while the western part is constantly eroded by a strong ocean current. It is possible that sand (aka silicon) is a waste product of an insatiable ship devourer, which is what Sable appears to be.

It is curious that shortly before the start of World War II, the island presented researchers with a new mystery. In the spring of 1939, storms of unprecedented force raged in this area, removing hundreds of tons of coastal sand, as a result of which a hole with the skeletons of eight ships formed on the island. It was in this pit, a hundred miles from Canada, that the remains of a Roman galley from ancient times were found! While the members of the scientific expedition sent to the island were arguing about the find, another storm broke out, and the tomb, which had been opened for a short time, was again covered with tons of damp sand.

The Curse of Bulawan Island

Bulawan - a small piece of land in the Banda Sea, which belongs to Indonesia, has long gained fame as a bad and dangerous place. The island became widely known after the plane of American pilot Willy Van der Haage crashed in its vicinity in 1989. The pilot was able to eject, but for the next 3 years he had the opportunity to be in Robinson's shoes, making many amazing discoveries.

During his forced confinement, Van der Haage explored the length and breadth of the tropical island; his attention was especially drawn to the deep wells of obviously artificial origin that led to dry underground caves. Having descended into one of these caves, the American discovered a truly priceless treasure of gold coins, which, as is known from legends and horror stories, rarely brings happiness and longevity.

The treasure, found by an unwitting researcher, was in four clay jugs, sealed with natural asphalt. Inside the vessels were faceless, perfectly round coins, more like polished lenses. After the gold was delivered to America, an expert commission of numismatists and specialists in ancient culture could not determine the nationality of the coins, which gave reason to assume that these coins were a means of payment on the territory of some high-tech lost civilization, maybe even Atlantis.

The stay on the island ended as unexpectedly as it began: an Australian destroyer passing by saw a distress signal, thanks to which the missing pilot was finally rescued. Upon his return, the American gave a couple of dozen interviews in which he said that Bulavan is a powerful anomalous zone, and the cause of the plane crash, after which he became a captive of the island, was powerful geomagnetic deviations.

From newspaper articles, the public learned about the gold coins found, and detachments of black treasure hunters poured into Bulavan. The wells, adits, and caves of the island were repeatedly ransacked by lovers of quick money, and it should be noted that many did not return empty-handed. Only now treasure hunters came across not gold coins, but amazing silver bars in the shape of horse heads. These zoomorphic silver, according to scientists, were used in sacred rituals of a civilization unknown to us. But the most amazing thing is that there are no traces of artificial processing on the ingots, and we can say that this is nothing more than a masterpiece of the anomalous zone of Bulavan Island.

As for Willy Van der Haage, after undergoing retraining, he returned to his favorite job - flying, and, probably, this story would have had a happy ending if the pilot’s disfigured body had not been discovered in his own home in March 1993. The motive for the murder has not been fully clarified, but the police hastened to attribute everything to a banal robbery.

It is worth noting that since 1999, almost all the diggers who removed precious loot from the island were hanged, poisoned or shot! It’s simply ridiculous to talk about banal robberies here.

Drifting Nightmare

The islands of Palmyra, Sable, Bulavan - this is just a small list of mysterious, cursed islands fraught with danger for careless travelers. But varied anomalous zones, which are shrouded in a fog of secrets and mysteries, are nothing compared to the main island on this list, which is more than real, and whose appetite for devouring living flesh is much worse than the figment of Yann Martel’s imagination.

As sad as it sounds, the first place in the list of damned killer islands is occupied by a man-made creation - Garbage Island, which drifts between America and Eurasia. Currently, a huge landfill in the North Pacific Ocean is twice the size of the United States and is rightfully called the “Eastern Garbage Patch.”

The basis of the giant floating landfill is plastic waste, which is thrown into the ocean in huge quantities. The weight of this dump is already estimated at 100 mils. tons, and this figure continues to grow at a tremendous pace. At the same time, 70% of waste sinks to the bottom, so Garbage Island is just the tip of the iceberg.

Only two countries in the Pacific region - Australia and New Zealand - effectively control plastic recycling, while advanced Asian states have designed and began mass production of equipment that processes all ship debris (plastic bottles, bags and other waste) into powder. Next, the shredded plastic, visually invisible to environmental services, is dumped into the ocean, saving enormous amounts of money.

The trouble is that over the past couple of decades we have become accustomed to such concepts as “humanitarian” and “ecological disaster”. It seems to us that if something like this happens not in the next block, then it is unlikely that the consequences will affect our own skin. However, Garbage Island is a disaster not of a local, but of a planetary scale. The worst thing is that this is no longer just a polluted aquatic environment, but a real cemetery of marine life. Every year, about a million birds and a hundred thousand mammals die from plastic waste dumped in the Pacific Ocean.

This happens according to the following scheme: under the influence of sunlight, plastic begins to disintegrate into small fractions without losing its polymer structure, then fish, jellyfish and other inhabitants of the ocean, confusing the waste with plankton, begin to eat it. Birds and mammals swallow larger things: lighters, bottle caps, syringes and toothbrushes. Of course, the “plastic diet” leads to death, but some of the commercial fish poisoned by chemicals still ends up on the average person’s plate.

How many of you would like to taste the meat of cattle raised on a farm near Chernobyl? Fish with a belly stuffed with plastic is little better, but the average consumer rarely thinks about what he puts in his mouth. Even when the obvious is explained to us, we pretend not to hear, or hope at chance, believing that misfortunes will affect anyone, but not us.

This kind of trash islands, albeit smaller, are found in all oceans. We can only admit that these drifting killers are already stretching their bony fingers far into the interior of the continents. And this is just the beginning...

As soon as the ship touches the keel of Sable's quicksand, it is doomed to destruction.

David Johnson, lighthouse keeper

Sable, saber or sand?

This happened by chance when in the summer I was flying from Murmansk to Cuba. Our Tu-114, passing South coast Greenland, was supposed to fly over Sable, then enter the route running along the eastern coast of the North American continent - to Havana. I asked the pilots to show me the island, about which I had been collecting information for many years in sailing directions and old maps, in geographical books and travel notes. It was a clear sunny day and there were no clouds under the plane. Through the wide windows of the cabin from a height of eight thousand meters - through the on-board binoculars that the pilots allowed me to use - I saw a narrow curved strip in the frozen blue of the ocean. Along south coast The wide white edge of the surf was clearly visible on the island.

An oblong lake, the metal roofs of five or six buildings and a dozen aluminum houses that looked like hangars flashed in the sun. One could make out a radio mast, two openwork beacons and a stationary helicopter. So, "on high level“, my personal acquaintance with Sable Island took place.

For almost five centuries, the name of the island struck terror into the hearts of sailors, and finally it gained such gloomy fame that it began to be called “the island of shipwrecks,” “the devourer of ships,” “the deadly saber,” “the island of ghosts,” “the cemetery of a thousand lost ships."

Until now, no one knows exactly who discovered this ill-fated piece of land, cursed by many generations of sailors. The Norwegians claim that the Vikings were the first to stumble upon it; even before Columbus, they sailed across the ocean to North America. The French believe that the discoverers of Sable were fishermen from Normandy and Brittany, who at the very beginning of the 16th century were already fishing for cod and halibut on the Newfoundland shallows. Finally, the English, who after the French added the island to their once extensive possessions, claim that the island was discovered by their whalers who settled on the shores of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Some British geographers, speaking about this, refer to the very name of the island: the first meaning of the word “SABLE” in English is “sable”. Strange, isn't it? After all, sables have never been found on this island. Maybe the fact is that the image of the island on the map resembles a jumping animal? Some etymologists are inclined to see the name of the island as a kind of historical incident. They believe that the island was previously designated as English maps the word "SABRE" and that some cartographer mistakenly replaced the "R" with the letter "L". By the way, “SABRE”, which means “saber”, fits perfectly with the island, which really looks like a scimitar. The second meaning of the word “SABLE” (with a poetic connotation) is black, gloomy, sad, scary - when applied to the “shipwreck island” it is also quite understandable and logical.

Most modern geographers and historians, however, agree that Sable was discovered by the French traveler Léry, who in 1508 sailed from Europe to the “Land of the Bretons” - a peninsula that the British later called Acadia and even later Nova Scotia. It is possible that supporters of this particular version are right, claiming that the navigator Léry gave the new island the French name “SABLE”. After all, in French it means “sand,” and the island actually consists only of sand.

On maps of the 16th century, published in France, England and Italy, the length of the island is estimated at 150-200 miles, and already in 1633, the Dutch geographer Johann Last, describing Sable, reports: “... the island has a circumference of about forty miles, the sea The waters here are stormy and shallow, there are no harbors, the island has gained notoriety as a place of constant shipwrecks.”

Sable is located 110 miles southeast of Halifax, near the continental shelf - just in the area where the warm Gulf Stream meets the cold Labrador Current. It was this circumstance that led to the formation of a giant sandy crescent mound here, which once extended to Cape Cod. Geologists believe that Sable is nothing more than the peak of this crescent protruding from under the water.

In its current state, the island stretches from east to west for 24 miles. The predominant terrain is dunes and sand hills. In some places there are areas of herbaceous vegetation. The highest “mountain” here is Riggin Hill, 34 meters high. Four miles from the western tip of the island is the semi-salty Lake Wallace, no more than four meters deep. Although it does not communicate with the ocean, waves still enter it by rolling over the dunes.

The western end of the island, under the continuous action of currents and waves of the Atlantic, is gradually eroded and disappearing, while the eastern end is washed out and lengthened, and thus the island continuously moves east, gradually moving away from the shores of Nova Scotia. It is estimated that over the past two hundred years, Sable has “walked” almost ten nautical miles across the ocean. The current speed of its movement is also known - about 230 meters per year.

Sable's height above ocean level, as we already know, is small, and therefore it is almost invisible from the sea. Only on very fine days can one discern a narrow strip of sand on the horizon from the deck of the ship.

And clear weather occurs here only in July, when the fury of the ocean subsides, and you can approach the island from the north side by boat.

A storm on Sable is usually preceded by an unusually dazzling sunrise. It would seem that a wonderful morning should end with an equally beautiful sunset. But God knows where a veil of leaden clouds appeared from, covers the sun, the sky turns black, and now the wind whistles subtly in the dunes. It grows stronger, howls, tears sand from the tops of the dunes and drives it across the island into the ocean... Because of this cutting sand, there is not a single tree on the island, not even a bush. Only in the valley between two ridges of dunes do stunted grass and wild peas grow.

The main danger that awaits ships near Sable is the quicksand of the shallows, a kind of “ocean quagmire.” Sailors and fishermen seriously say that they tend to take on the color of ocean water. The swells of the treacherous island literally swallow the ships that are captured by them. It is reliably known that steamships with a displacement of five thousand tons and a length of 100-120 meters that found themselves on the Sable shallows completely disappeared from view within two to three months.

The famous American scientist Alexander Graham Bell rushed to the aid of the French steamer La Bourgogne, which was in disaster on July 4, 1898 near Sable. The scientist was sure that some of the people from the ship had reached Sable and were awaiting help there. Bell, using his own money, organized a rescue expedition, arrived on the island and carefully examined it. Alas, there were no survivors there after the disaster. While waiting for the steamer, Bell lived on the island for several weeks, living in the house of the lighthouse keeper Boutilier and the lifeguard Smallcombe. In July 1898, Bell wrote: “The barque Crafton Hall ran aground in April of this year. The magnificent vessel seemed intact, except that its hull was cracked in the middle. Today the fishing lines have completely swallowed the victim.”

Based on documents preserved at the island's life-saving station, lighthouse keeper Johnson plotted the places and dates of shipwrecks on Sable's map starting in 1800. And it turned out that every two years an average of three ships were wrecked here.

What happened before 1800?

The moving and changeable Sable has been constant in only one thing since the days of the ancient Vikings: in its irreconcilable hostility towards passing ships.

Historical documents - for example, numerous volumes of the Chronicle of Shipwrecks, maritime chronicles and other sources - allow us to judge that in ancient times Sable served as a giant ship graveyard of the North Atlantic. Here, under many meters of sand, lie the sharp-chested canoes of the brave Vikings, clumsy carracks and galleons of the Spaniards and Portuguese, gulets of Brittany fishermen, strong pine ships of Nantucket whalers, English smacks, cutters from Goole, heavy three-masted ships of the West India Company, elegant American clippers. .. And this armada of sailing ships, which has sunk into oblivion, is crushed by the heavy hulls of sunken steamships that sailed under the flags of all countries of the world. Some stumbled upon it, lost in fog and a shroud of rain, others were carried to the shallows by the current, and most of the ships found their last refuge here during storms.

After each storm, Sable changes its terrain beyond recognition coastline. About a hundred years ago, storms washed out a channel in the northern part of Sable: a large harbor was formed inside the island, which for many years served as a refuge for fishermen. But one day another strong storm closed the entrance to the bay, and two American schooners remained trapped in this trap forever. Over time, the former harbor became an inland fresh-salt body of water seven miles long. Nowadays, Wallace Lake serves as a landing site for seaplanes that deliver mail and food to the island.

Sometimes the sandbanks and dunes of the island, having moved under the influence of ocean waves, reveal to the human eye the remains of ships that disappeared a long time ago. Thus, a quarter of a century ago, the durable teak hull of an American clipper, which had gone missing in the last century, “resurrected” from shifting fishing lines. And three months later, dunes 30 meters high again grew above the hull... From time to time, broken masts and yards of sailing ships, steamship pipes, boilers, pieces of rusted ocean liners and even submarines.

Sable is one of the most conscientious and generous suppliers of unique exhibits to the defunct museum of romantic relics of the past. The current inhabitants of the island find rusty anchors, muskets, sabers, grappling hooks and huge quantities of ancient coins in the dunes... In 1963, a lighthouse keeper discovered in the sand a human skeleton, a bronze boot buckle, a musket barrel, several bullets and a dozen coined gold doubloons 1760 Later, a thick stack of banknotes - British pounds sterling from the middle of the last century - worth ten thousand was found in the dunes.

Some calculations show that the value of the valuables buried in the sands of Sable is, at modern exchange rates, almost two million pounds sterling. This is only if we take into account the ships about which information has been preserved that at the time of death they were carrying valuable cargo on board.

Robinson convicts and rescue riders

The first settlers of Sable were shipwrecked: for them this meager piece of land, having become the cause of misfortune, served as a shelter. The unfortunate people built houses from the wreckage of ships scattered throughout the ship graveyard. To their surprise, the first Robinsons saw cows in the valley of the island. For some unknown reason, these animals were left behind by the Frenchman Lery when he first visited Sable. The animals multiplied and went wild. Fishermen in distress could also feed on fur seals, for which the local sandbanks are still a favorite rookery. The tragedy of the sailors who found themselves on Sable was aggravated by the fact that they had nowhere to wait for help: the ships avoided approaching the terrible island, even when they saw the smoke of signal fires above it. What else could they hope for? To someone else's tragedy? That the next doomed ship will bring them, along with the wreckage, essentials and - most importantly! - a few pounds of table salt? Yes, probably for that too.

Sometimes “gentlemen of fortune” buried their treasures here. They burned false fires on the dunes to lure merchant ships into a trap.

How many crimes were committed here and how many criminals Sable hid will forever remain a mystery. Until now, many superstitious residents of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia consider Sable a place cursed by God and the abode of evil spirits and ghosts. That’s what they call it: “THE GHOST ISLAND” - “Ghost Island”.

In 1598, Sable unexpectedly turned into... hard labor. Here 48 criminals were disembarked from the French ship Marquis De La Roche. The Marquis actually intended to found a colony in Nova Scotia, but after a long storm his ship developed a leak. Having never reached his goal, De La Roche turned back to the shores of Europe. Seeing the island, the Marquis came up with nothing else but to land the “extra cargo” on Sable, and so that the convicts would not starve right away, he left them fifty sheep. The exiles were remembered only seven years later, and the King of France signed a pardon for them. In the summer of 1605, a ship sent to Sable brought eleven overgrown people, who had lost their human appearance, dressed in sheep's skins, to Cherbourg. The rest, unable to bear the severe hardships, died. Surprisingly, five of those who returned to their homeland asked the king to allow them to return to Sable. Henry IV not only agreed, but also ordered to supply them with everything they needed. This is how a small French colony was formed. And when in 1635 a ship returning from Connecticut to England was wrecked on Sable, its crew was rescued and taken to the American mainland by these French Robinsons.

Years passed. News of shipwrecks near Sable Island began to reach Europe more and more often. The sailors demanded that their governments build a lighthouse and a rescue station on the island. But neither France, which at that time owned Sable and lost two ships of D’Anville’s expedition here in 1746, nor England, the “mistress of the seas,” nor Holland wanted to bother with such a tiny territory. And if not for chance...

At the beginning of 1800, the English authorities discovered unauthorized valuables among fishermen living on the shores of Nova Scotia: gold coins, jewelry, geographic Maps with the coat of arms of the Duke of York, books from his personal library and even furniture with the same coat of arms. Simple-minded fishermen called these things “Sable things.” It turned out that they received them in exchange for fish from the settlers of the island. This alarmed the British. Moreover, the ship “Francis” did not come from Nova Scotia to London, but it was carrying the personal belongings of the Duke of York!

The British Admiralty came to the conclusion that after the death of the Francis, the crew on board reached Sable safely, but were killed by the Robinsons. And so a punitive expedition was sent to the island, the settlers were interrogated. However, it turned out that no one killed the people from the lost ship. They all disappeared into the depths of the sea, and the islanders were unable to help them, because they did not even have a lifeboat.

Less than a year had passed since the English ship Princess Amelia perished in the quicksand of Sable. Of the more than two hundred people, none escaped. Another English ship that came to the rescue again got stuck in the sands of the island, and everyone on it also died. Three ships lost on Sable decided the matter: the British finally decided to erect a lighthouse on the dangerous island and create a rescue station. Its servants were charged with the duty of providing assistance to shipwrecked people and saving property from sea robbers. And in England itself at that time, notices were posted that, on pain of death, prohibited anyone other than rescuers from settling on the island without government permission.

What in 1802 bore the loud name “rescue station” was a tightly built barn about one and a half hundred meters from the shore. In it, an ordinary whaling whaleboat rested on wooden runners. Nearby is a stable. No, the horses were not brought here on purpose. Horses have lived here since ancient times, although no one really knows where they came from on Sable. According to one version, these are the descendants of cavalry horses that sailed to the island from a certain French ship that once perished on the shallows. According to another version, they were brought to the island by Thomas Hancock, the uncle of the famous John Hancock, a famous American patriot during the War of Independence. Sable's horses are more like large ponies. They are very hardy, live in herds, feed on sedge, wild peas and some flowers that grow only on Sable.

Every day, four rescuers rode around the island on horseback along the surf, walking in pairs towards each other. They searched for sails in the fog and looked to see if the ocean had thrown up the wreckage of the ship. A ship was spotted dying near the island... The patrolmen galloped to the barn and sounded the alarm. The oarsmen on duty harness four ponies into a team, which drag the whaleboat to the water. Having skillfully overcome the first three waves of the surf, the rowers rush to where the ship is in distress. Meanwhile, the rest of the rescuers, including the lighthouse keeper, are already racing to the scene by land. Then a rope is thrown from the sinking ship to the island: this is the only way to snatch people in trouble from Sable’s mouth.

In modern sailing directions, an important note remains: “If the ship becomes stranded near Sable Island, the crew should remain on board until the lifeboat station provides assistance. Practice shows that all attempts to escape on the ship’s boats invariably ended in human casualties.”

Only eight cases were recorded when ships managed to escape from the tenacious embrace of the island and avoid death. The English three-masted ship "Myrtle", which was distinguished by its very strong construction, was found in the autumn of 1840 near the Azores Islands without any sign of a crew. The investigation revealed that the Myrtle was driven ashore by a storm on the Sable Shoals in January of that year. The crew apparently died while trying to land on shore. The ship remained captive in the sands for two months, until another storm pulled it aground into clear water. This “Flying Dutchman” sailed in the ocean for several months until he ended up near the Azores.

The American fishing schooner Arno, under the command of Captain Higgins, fished near the island in 1846. A squall that suddenly came at night tore off most of the sails and almost capsized the ship. At dawn, the captain realized that the current and wind had carried the Arno onto the Sable Banks. Hope remained only in the anchors. They were given away, having removed 100 fathoms of rope from each fairlead. By noon, the north-west turned into a force nine storm. The ocean boiled over the shallows like water in a cauldron. The schooner was carried towards the deadly breakers. Higgis, not counting on the vigilance and vigilance of Sable's rescuers, decided to try his luck. To prevent panic on the ship, he locked the crew in the hold. He placed two experienced sailors on the forecastle at each side and, so that they would not be washed away by the wave, tied them to the railings. He grabbed the steering wheel himself. The schooner was rushing towards the shore with incredible speed. Tethered sailors poured fish oil from barrels into the water. The wind drove him in front of the bow of the ship towards the island. This ancient and reliable method of smoothing the crests of waves with fat, blubber or oil is often used by sailors today when they need to reduce the waves. The breakers pushed the schooner over the island's sandy bar, and she found herself safe at the foot of the surf-washed dunes. Although all the people were saved, the schooner died - the next day it was broken by a storm, and the wreckage of the Arno disappeared into the sandy belly of Sable.

And this was the only case when the team did not need the help of the islanders.

Perhaps the most dramatic shipwreck at Sable was the death of the American passenger ship"State of Virginia" July 15, 1879. This ship, with a registered capacity of 2,500 tons and a length of 110 meters, was sailing from New York to Glasgow, carrying 129 passengers and crew. During a thick fog, the ship found itself on a sandbank on the south side of the island. 120 passengers and crew were rescued by the island service. The happy parents added a fourth to the names of the smallest rescued girl - Nellie Sable Bagley Hord.

In the middle of the 19th century, a new station building was built on the island, and the wooden whaleboat was replaced with an iron one. In 1893, an even more substantial building for rescuers was erected, but a strong storm destroyed it to the ground in one night.

The situation with the lighthouses on Sable was much worse. At first, the wooden structure of the only lighthouse tower rose in the middle part of the island. In 1873, when, despite numerous repairs, the tower completely fell into disrepair, the lighthouse was replaced by two new ones - metal, openwork design. The eastern lighthouse served safely for about a hundred years, but the western one had to be changed several times: the insatiable Sable “swallowed”... six of its lighthouses!

Sable today

In the “recent” history of the insatiable womb, the year 1926 was especially sorrowful. In August of this year, two American schooners, the Sylvia Mosher and the Sadie Nickle, were lost off Sable on the same day. The first capsized on the shallows, its crew died. The second wave was thrown over the spit of the island from one end to the other, where it also capsized and was later covered with sand. Sable's annual menu, in addition to other schooners, included two ships: the Canadian Labrador and the English Harold Casper.

Ships still pass by the island every day - hundreds of merchant ships flying the flags of countries all over the planet. Captains, plotting a course on maps, try to miss the island at a considerable distance. And although these days Sable no longer poses such a danger as before, sailors do not like to approach him. What if?.. God knows, these shallows changing shape every day...

Two lighthouses send warning rays into the night. Their light is visible 16 nautical miles in clear weather. Clear warning radio signals are heard on the air around the clock. It was thanks to them that shipwrecks off the coast of the island actually stopped. The last victim- a large American steamship called the Manhassent - engulfed the island in 1947.

Sable now belongs to Canada. It is still inhabited: usually 15-25 people live here. These are specialists and workers of the Canadian Department of Transport who service the island's hydrometeorological center, radio station and lighthouses. Their duties also include rescuing people in the event of a shipwreck and providing assistance to them. For this purpose, they have undergone special training and have the most modern equipment at their disposal. life-saving equipment. Canadian specialists live on the island with families.

There are only two real houses here - for the island manager and the head of the radio beacon. The rest are housed in “caravans” - trailer houses. These dwellings were specially designed to withstand the destructive effects of cutting sand. There is also a small power station.

Several years ago, a warehouse, a blacksmith shop, a carpentry workshop, dormitories for shipwrecked people (in case such trouble should occur) and a hangar were built here, where metal whaleboats stand on rails, ready to be launched at any moment. The inhabitants of the island believe that these amazing ships are not afraid of any waves, they are unsinkable and so stable that they practically cannot capsize.

Of the old buildings on Sable, only one has survived - the building of the former rescue station, a kind of local landmark. The station was built from ship masts, topmasts and yards thrown onto the island. “Name boards” are nailed to the walls of the building, on which the names of the ships are displayed. These are, as it were, the remaining passports of former victims of the “ship devourer”.

Three hundred wild ponies still live on Sable. On those that are tamed, keepers travel around the coast of the island every day. They look to see if a yacht or fishing boat has washed up on the shallows, or if a bottle or plastic container with a note is lying on the sand, which is used to study sea currents.

Modern Robinsons have learned to plant vegetable gardens and even orchards on Sable. The main problem is to protect plants from sand. If the weather permits, which is still rare, the island's residents swim and go out on whaleboats into the ocean to fish.

Although Transport Canada, which oversees Sable, has tried to create maximum amenities for its residents, their work is not easy and dangerous. Long-lasting storms of hurricane force often prevent people from leaving their homes for weeks, or even more. But this is not considered the most difficult thing here. The question rests on something else - psychological rather than physical stress. Indeed, living on a remote island, always shrouded in fog and tormented by storms, is not easy. But it’s even more difficult to get used to the idea that beneath you there is an island-cemetery, where every now and then you come across human skulls and bones in the sand. One of Sable's Robinsons, a lighthouse keeper, had to be removed from service and sent to the mainland. For many years, during his watch, he was invariably haunted by the ghosts of the schooner Sylvia Mosher, the same one that disappeared into the surf in August 1926. The old caretaker turned out to be an eyewitness to this drama. Together with the other inhabitants of the island, he did everything possible to save those people.

Nowadays, assistance to those dying at sea can be provided by the helicopter available on Sable, and the great “ship devourer” is practically neutralized. Over the past 30 years, there has not been a single case of the death of a large ship in its quicksand. But the sailors still vigilantly peer into the fog as they pass by the dangerous island. The formidable warning of the radio beacon does not stop for a minute: “You are passing near Sable Island - the cemetery of the North Atlantic.”

 

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