Native name: Seebes'kook [1] "High Tide Flows Through It" | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Bliss Islands | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Bay of Fundy |
| Coordinates | 45°01′1″N66°51′0″W / 45.01694°N 66.85000°W |
| Area | 42.1 [2] ha (104 acres) |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Province | New Brunswick |
| County | Charlotte |
| Parish | Saint George Parish |
The Bliss Islands (formerly L'etang Islands [3] ) are three adjacent islands in the Saint George Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada in the Bay of Fundy. [4] [5] [6] They are named after Samuel Bliss, the original grantee in the 18th century who was also granted title to White Horse Island. [7] [8] They are commonly written as a single island, although technically there is a northeast ("Pentelow's Island"), central and southwest landmass. [9]
The Bliss Islands have three shell middens, dubbed BgDq4, BgDq5 and BgDq6, as well as a site believe to be Bliss's original home. [10] [11] [12] An arrowhead estimated to date to 600BC has also been recovered in the BgDg6 midden. [13] [14]
Ernest Ingersoll mentions passing the islands, en route to Lubec by steamship from Saint John. [15]
Spencer Fullerton Baird carried out a 19th century archaeological study of the islands. [16] 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. [17]
There is a lighthouse on the west end of the island, on the southern side of the western entrance to Bliss Harbour. [18] As of 1879, Jarvis Clark and his family ran the lighthouse. [19] In 1911, there was one family listed as living on the island. [20]
As of 1923, it had a buoy associated with the island. [21]
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. [22] [23] [24] [25] FoProhibition inspectors found ten gallons of alcohol in a bog on Spruce Island where the crew had reached shore. [26]
In the summer of 1986, benthic algae sublittoral research stations were set up across the region including on the Bliss islands. [27]
In 2020, the Nature Trust of New Brunswick converted the island into a conservationist reserve. [28] [29]
