The story of a shipwreck with a happy ending on Nova Scotia’s Sable Island

A small vessel has grounded on Sable Island, known as the “graveyard of the Atlantic.”

The remote strip of land, situated approximately 300 kilometres off the coast of Halifax, has been the final resting place for more than 350 ships manned by countless wayward mariners over the centuries.

In late September, the island experienced its first shipwreck of sorts in decades — only this one has a happy ending.

“This one actually hasn’t been wrecked, just lost and refound,” said Zoe Lucas, the president of the Sable Island Institute and a naturalist conducting research on the island.

The unmanned five-foot vessel known as the Warrior was originally built as part of a research project by Grade 3 students at Hanscom Primary School at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. The program was guided by the USS Constitution Museum.

“The goal was simple: can we get this little boat across the Atlantic Ocean?” said Emily Bryant, the museum’s education manager.

Equipped with GPS technology, the U.S. Coast Guard launched the Warrior earlier in the summer, allowing students to track its journey across the Atlantic Ocean for more than 50 days. The vessel, filled with letters written by the students, was expected to land somewhere in Europe.

As the vessel was set sail on its journey, Bryant said the students had some concerns.

“The students had a great fear that a shark was going to bite the boat,” Bryant said.

But it was the shallow waters around Sable Island that ultimately ended the Warrior’s journey on the mystical island off the coast of Nova Scotia known for wild horses and shipwrecks.

Lucas said she suspected that the vessel’s grounding was due to storm waves associated with hurricane Lee in September.

The Warrior washed up onto a sand dune on the island where wild horses roam freely, a location the students had never heard of before.

“How cool of a place for it to land. It was so interesting,” said Bryant, who has since educated herself and the students about the history of the island.

Using GPS co-ordinates provided by the students, Lucas was able to locate and rescue the waterlogged vessel. It will be returned to the students for repairs, with the hope that it will one day set sail again.

Lucas also plans to meet with the students over Zoom to talk about the experience, share the history of the island and perhaps even open and read the letters inside the vessel.

This latest shipwreck on Sable Island had a happy ending, defying the island’s reputation as a final resting place for ships.

Note to readers: An earlier version of the broadcast video for this story has been updated to include proper accreditation.