European Visitors click to view a larger map 1565 Giacomo Gastaldi (Italy)

Europeans had known about Sable Island since the 1500s. Their maps show the island as much larger than it really is. Early mapmakers relied on explorers' accounts. The size of the dreaded island may have over exaggerated because of the shipwrecks.

Abandoned Convicts

In 1598, the Marquis de La Roche brought 50 convicts to the New World to start a colony. He left them on Sable while he searched for a good site. But storms drove him back to France, where political enemies had him thrown into prison.




Abandoned, the convicts sheltered in wrecked ships. Only 11 were still alive when a ship rescued them 5 years later.

In 1738, Reverend Andrew Le Mercier of Boston sent people and livestock to Sable (remember the horses?) but refused to pay the rent to Nova Scotia He was very angry when fisherman stole his cattle, and he tried to sell the island, which he did not own. No one bought it.

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