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October 01, 1987 - 'Graveyard of the Atlantic'Page 8A/The Suffolk Times /October 1, 1987 Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh HARBOR SEAL - -From the far north down to New Jersey, this com- mon seal can be found. In the winter look for it at Orient Point, Montauk Point and the inlets along the south shore. Spanish Continental Cuisine MANHANSET AVE. at STIRLING HARBOR MARINA. GREENPORT, N.Y. 477 -1777 Closed Monday and Tuesday CONTINUOUS DINING 11:30 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. OPEN 7 DAYS Fully Air Conditioned Visa & MasterCard Accepted I JS I SUNDAY LOBSTER FEAST Complete Lobster Dinners from $13.95 Extensive list of complete dinners from $12.95 All complete dinners includes soup or salad, baked clams or crabmeat scampi, potato, /�l vegetable, dessert and coffee. `Graveyard of the Atlantic' By PAUL STOUTENBURGH Years ago I remember reading in National Geographic about an island of Nova Scotia called the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." It had claimed over 300 ships since the early 1800s for its low -lying sand bars and crashing waves seemed to lure ships to their destruction. The island is about 150 miles east of Nova Scotia and is made up of a series of bars and sand dunes that extend for more than 25 miles. What holds the island from blowing away are the tenacious roots of the dune grass that collect the sand that makes the dunes. Barbara and I were traveling with a group who were hoping to land on the sandy shores of Sable Island in hopes of exploring its endless beaches and perhaps getting a glimpse of the wild horses that live there. To do this, we were going to leave the ship offshore and go in on rubber boats (Zodiacs) powered by outboard motors. The only problem that confronted us was a fairly heavy sea running and so it was decided to make a trial run before attempting to land with our party. As we approached the windswept island, we could see no sign of life anywhere. An underwater bar just offshore broke the incoming waves and if we could get past them we thought we could land safely. While we moved back and forth outside the bar we could see seals on the beach baking in the sun. Waiting for just the right moment between waves we headed in, engine wide open. With spray flying and white knuckles holding on tightly we shot over the bar to the quieter water behind. To keep from broaching, we all jumped overboard in the clear, cool waters that surround the island. Quickly we unloaded our gear and sent the boat back to the ship to pick up the rest of our group. Now with the wind blow- ing on our legs we were starting to get cold, but we'd have to overcome this for as each boat came in we'd wade out and grab onto the rubber ROUTE 25,GREENPORT 477 -2242 1/2 mile east of the traffic circle Lobsters Always Available SAUTEING TO ORDER IS OUR SPECIALTY COMPLETE LUNCHEONS DAILY Available from 8696 COLD SALAD PLATTERS • LOBSTER SALAD SHRIMP SALAD HOT PRIME RIB SANDWICH COLD HALF —LOBSTER PLATTER Focus on Nature boat swinging it around into the in- coming waves so that the passengers could jump ashore. Seals Watching Us Ashore we could now survey this most famous island, and much to our surprise we found we were being sur- veyed by bobbing heads of the grey seal. These were the seals we had seen coming in that had now waddled into the water and had come to in- vestigate. Back and forth they swam looking with those curious eyes at the invaders of their territory. Later we were to find out that the island also had a large population of harbor seals. Sable Island is much like our own barrier island that runs the length of our south shore. The only marked difference was that there was no bay behind it and the water around it was shallow and treacherous. Looking up the driftwood- strewn beach we could see huge blowouts in the dunes. They were so huge and the dunes were so high that one felt like they were standing in a valley. This was the le- gacy of Sable Island. The place of ever - shifting sands. Sable Island is under the jurisdic- tion of the Canadian Government and they are very strict about land- ing on the island. We had permission to land but with the understanding that we stay on the beach and not go inland. We respected their wishes and it was good we did for it wasn't long after we started up the beach that a vehicle with three men soon appeared to check us out. We had been discovered and were cordially welcomed but in a somewhat restric- tive manner. A young girl who was a research person studying the horses on the island rode up on a three - wheel vehicle. Her mission that day was the collecting of skulls from horses that died during last winter's storms. Horses like humans can stand just so much cold, snow and lack of food before perishing. Since the government does not believe in disrupting the balance of nature on the island, it does nothing for the horses. The government feels that if they fed the horses during the cold winter months and thereby pre- vented the old and weak from dying they would soon overpopulate the is- land. Ipswich Sparrow Seen The young researcher told me that ducks and crows nest on the island. "But the island has no trees," I re- plied. "Where do they nest ?" "In the dunes," was her answer. That was a first for me. I'd never heard of cl -•••s nesting on the ground. We saw the famous Ipswich sparrow, a race of the Savannah sparrow that nests only on this lonely island. It was an exciting sight for me. We then talked about the seals and I was told that about 3,000 -4,000 grey seals are born each year on the is- land. The waters around Sable are rich in sea life and the grey seal and harbor seals have little trouble find- See Graveyard, next page Graveyard... Continued from previous page ing a meal. The females ' develop a thick layer of fat that maintains them through the breeding season following the birth of the calf. This is passed on to the young calf who soon becomes plump and healthy. After two or three weeks the female has lost most of her blubber and aban- dons the young to return to the sea. The young is left to find its way to the sea and survive. Seals, of course, were hunted for the oil they produce and the advent of kerosene for lamps and cooking put an end to the tedious task of boiling down blubber from seals to extract their oil. Yet seals were still taken to some extent for meat. Today many governments con- trol the grey seal by eliminating the pups because it is thought that seals transmit a nematode that gets into the. flesh of codfish and makes them unmarketable. Wild Horses Find Water We were lucky to see the famous wild horses of Sable Island also. There was a stallion with a new -won filly standing in one of the huge blowouts down the beach. I didn't know if he was showing off to his new bride or what but he had just dug a water hole in the sand from which they were drinking. Rainwater per- colates into the sand and floats on the salt water around and below it. This means that in low -lying areas the fresh water is just below the sur- face and so the stallion had dug with his front hooves down to fresh water. Further along the island we're told there are some freshwater ponds, but none was nearby our landing. The horses looked strong and healthy but like all horses and the ponies of Chincoteague that eat dune grass their stomachs have a pre- gnant look about them. "Hay bellies" they call them for they must eat a great deal to get any nutrient value. How the horses got to Sable Island is not really known for sure. Some say with all the ships that went aground through the years that some horses swam ashore and in that way started the herd. The more likely story is that some people from the mainland came to the island to start farming and brought horses. A few years of howling winds and miserable wea- ther soon found them leaving the is- land and letting the horses go wild. The population fluctuates and last year there were about 280 horses on the island and most of these the young researcher knows by sight. The Suffolk f mes /October 1, 1987 /Page 9A Bless These Waters Photo by Judy Ahrens Priests perform the blessing of Greenport Harbor at Claudio's Dock on Saturday. 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