Seal Island lies 18 miles off shore in Yarmouth
county, Nova Scotia, where the
famous Fundy tides begin their ebb and flow from the Atlantic ocean. Sailing
ships between old England and New England were always coming to grief on the
ledges around Seal Island, with its tide rips and persistent fog. Nearly 200
wrecks are now recorded with their tales of tragedies or miraculous rescues.
Sheep were introduced to Seal Island in the early 1800's. The theory is that
sheep were put there as food for ship wrecked mariners who became marooned and
would starve to death otherwise. In one year, 21 bodies of sailors were found
and buried having gotten ashore but died. Sheep thrived on this rocky island
foraging for themselves on grass all summer, and seaweed deposited by the tides
all winter, and grew to a population of about four hundred.
In 1963 a young married couple, Zella and Doug Perry, went to the island to catch and shear these wild sheep. They met and learned to love the gentle old woman who owned the island and the sheep. She told of her life at the lighthouse, the many ship wrecks, her family and ancestry. Zella had kept a diary of those sheep shearing days and now has self published the interesting details of history. Additional research resulted in the most complete list of ship wrecks at Seal Island ever published.
The cost of the book is $15 plus $7.00
additional for postage.
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e-mail.
Or phone: 902-257-2817
© Zella Perry