SABLE ISLAND

gently curving sandbar in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, 110 mi (180 km) southeast of Cape Canso. It is treeless, about 20 mi long and 1 mi wide, and comprises the exposed portion of a vast shoal on the outer edge of the continental shelf. Gradually shrinking in size and shifting slowly eastward, the island, because of unexpected shallows, has been the scene of so many shipwrecks that it has been called the graveyard of the Atlantic. The navigation hazards have been minimized since the Canadian government built two lighthouses and a coastguard station in 1873. In 1598 the marquis de la Roche unsuccessfully attempted to colonize the place with 50 French ex-convicts; only 11 survived and were removed in 1603. Now administratively a part of Nova Scotia, Sable (French: sand) Island is inhabited by only a few families and a few hundred wild ponies.