Native name: Seebes'kook [1] | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Bay of Fundy |
| Area | 42.1 [2] ha (104 acres) |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Province | New Brunswick |
| County | Charlotte |
| Parish | Saint George Parish |
Bliss Islands are undeveloped islands in the Saint George Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada in the Bay of Fundy. [3] [4] [5] They are named after Samuel Bliss, the original grantee in the 18th century who was also granted title to White Horse Island. [6] [7]
The Bliss Islands have three shell middens, dubbed BgDq4, BgDq5 and BgDq6. [8] [9] An arrowhead estimated to date to 600BC has also been recovered in the BgDg6 midden. [10] [11]
Ernest Ingersoll mentions passing the islands, en route to Lubec by steamship from Saint John. [12]
Spencer Fullerton Baird carried out a 19th century archaeological study of the islands. [13] During the Saxby Gale of 1869, the Rechab ship sank in Bliss Harbour; in 1850 she had been part of a "mysterious" journey to the Turks and Caicos hoping to retrieve pirate treasure. [14]
There is a lighthouse on the west end of the island, on the southern side of the western entrance to Bliss Harbour. [15] As of 1879, Jarvis Clark and his family ran the lighthouse. [16] In 1911, there was one family listed as living on the island. [17]
In October 1925, Harry Stone's two-masted schooner Cora Gertie (purchased from the sons of Captain Crocker and built at Richardson's shipyard on Deer Island), sank with no lives lost, in a gale after being blown into Bliss Harbour and striking Man O War Islet. It had been parked 12 miles off the coast to sell smuggled White Horse whiskey which was salvaged from the sunken wreck. [18] [19] [20] [21] FoProhibition inspectors found ten gallons of alcohol in a bog on Spruce Island where the crew had reached shore. [22]
In 2020, the Nature Trust of New Brunswick converted the island into a conservationist reserve. [23]
