Archeologists discover historical shipwreck on Sable Island

CITYnews halifax/ By Natasha O’Neill

Known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” researchers on Sable Island may have found a rare shipwreck that could be from before the 20th Century.

The ecological reserve off the coast of Nova Scotia has seen more than 350 ships destroyed since 1583, many of which sunk to the bottom of the ocean or decayed on the soft sands of the island.

In May 2025, underwater and terrestrial archaeologists launched a project with a Mi’kmaw archaeological technician to uncover one of the shipwrecks. For two weeks, they carefully dug up the “remarkably well-preserved” ship just below the sandy surface on the North Beach.

Rebecca Dunham, a terrestrial archaeologist with Parks Canada, said that the shoreline of the island is constantly shifting, which helps bury and expose pieces of wrecks.

“You can see broken up bits of shipwrecks that appear now and then as the sands reveal them inland on the island and also along the beaches,” she said in an interview.

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Despite the difficult navigation of the wreck and the decayed features, researchers believe that it could be connected to previously thought lost ships dating back to before the 1900s.

“It’s very difficult to have diagnostic or particular features visible on these wreck sections that can that you can say, ‘Hey, that’s potentially part of this wreck from this time period,” Dunham said.

However, after uncovering parts of the ship, some wood and copper fragments were marked with British Royal Navy broad arrows, and it had Bermuda cedar elements, which researchers suggest could be three possible connections: HMS Barbadoes, the sloop Swift, and the schooner Emeline.

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Dunham said that based on historical records, HMS Barbados went down with three other ships on route from Bermuda to Newfoundland. One of the ships made it to Halifax to sound the alarm of the disaster, which is how they theorized the debris field could be from the early 1800s.

“The island is revealing to us through the exposure of particular artifacts and features that we can associate with wreck events,” she said. “We’re relying on the island to reveal stories rather than seeking them out specifically.”

If this is verified, it would be a rare occasion where officials are correlating a shipwreck on Sable Island with a documented historical wreck before the 20th Century.

Moving sands

Sable Island is a 44-kilometre-long sandbar known for its wild horses, but for sailors, it was a nightmare, The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic explains on its website. Not only is it an island to avoid in the Atlantic, but storms and fog meant only “death and destruction,” it reads.

Part of the reason it was so deadly is because of the island’s hidden features underwater, Dunham explained.

Aerial of light looking west at sunrise on Sable Island. (Rogier Gruys/Parks Canada)

“It’s the nature of the island,” she said. “The island itself is not large, but the sandbars continue underwater for quite a distance to the north and south. So it’s like a massive obstacle in the ocean.”

Coupled with the currents circulating the island and the unpredictable nature of the weather, Dunham said it was a recipe for disaster for hundreds of ships. Better navigational tools curbed the treacherous nature of Sable Island.

But even doing the excavation work, researchers battled the elements.

“Sometimes it can be a beautiful day, and other days the wind’s up, and it’s roaring out there, and you’re trying to do field work and getting sand blasted in the process,” Dunham said.

Despite its challenges the “unique” nature of Sable Island was a “great opportunity for the underwater and terrestrial archaeology teams in Parks Canada to work together on the same project.”

With files from Chris Halef CityNews.