White Horse Island

This article is about the White Horse Island/Islet in West Isles Parish near Deer Island, it is not to be confused with the White Horse Islet/Island some distance south in Grand Manan Parish

White Horse Island

Geography
Location	Bay of Fundy
Area	3 [1] acres (1.2 ha)
Administration
Canada
Province	New Brunswick
County	Charlotte
Parish	West Isles Parish

White Horse Island (formerly Penguin Hors ^[2] ) is an undeveloped island in the West Isles Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada, where the Bay of Fundy enters Passamaquoddy Bay. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

The island is considered bare and rocky, 68' high ^[7] It is considered a "Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area". ^[8] Its name is a bastardization of "Penguin [White Head] Hors", meaning it was the Outward White Head Island. ^[2]

There is a geodetic triangulation station placed in 1863, which appeared to have disappeared by 1913. ^[9] Ernest Ingersoll wrote about it being the entrance to Campobello, by steamship. ^[10]

In 1929, author Frances Gillmor published "Thumbcap Weir" which was set on a West Isles Parish, New Brunswick island titled "Deadman's Island" which was connected at low tide to a "Thumbcap" which held a herring weir. The island appears to have been modeled off Jouett's Island and Hospital Island and situated impossibly north of Spectacle Islands but south of White Horse Island. ^[11]

History

The island has been identified as one of those written about in the 1604 writings of Samuel Champlain and Sieur de Monts. ^[1]

Its original grant was to Samuel Bliss, who was also granted the Bliss Islands. ^[12]

In December 1985, a study by Parks Canada assessed the island's value as $2,400. ^[1]

Scallop-draggers turned up a slate ulu-knife. ^{[13] [14]}

In 1987 a two-seater plane went down in the ocean just south of White Horse Island, killing brothers Seldon and Prescott Smith. Its wreckage was only recovered seven years later when it became entangled in fishing nets. ^[15]

Flora and Fauna

Together with the nearby Wolf Islands, it is one of the southernmost breeding kittiwake colony in the world which was instrumental in having the island declared a Provincial Natural Area. ^[16]

It is the only known nesting site of breeding Northern Gannet, first spotted in 1880 and further until at least 1990. ^[17]

Puffins have been observed nesting on the island. ^[17]

References

1. Parks Canada, "West Isles Feasibility Study....a National Marine Park in the West Isles", December 1985
2. "Sketch of the province of New Brunswick" (PDF). us.archive.org.
3. Alcock, Frederick James (1949). "The Isles of Fundy" – via Can Geo.
4. "No. 166". Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
5. "489" (PDF). Transportation and Infrastructure. Government of New Brunswick. Retrieved 4 July 2021. Remainder of parish on mapbooks 490, 497, 500, and 501 at same site.
6. "Search the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB)". Government of Canada. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
7. United States Coast Pilot: Atlantic Coast. Eastport to Cape Cod, Volume 1, 1960, pg50 and elsewhere
8. "South Grand Manan EBSA". 21 September 2021.
9. "Triangulation in Maine", U.S. Government Printing Office, 1918
10. Ingersoll, Ernest, "Down East Latch Strings", pg95-100
11. Gillmor, Frances (1929). "Thumbcap Weir". pp. 44, 206.
12. "Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society". 1894.
13. Suttie, Brent David. "Archaic Period Archaeological Research in the Interior of Southwestern New Brunswick", 2002
14. n Bliss Revisited: Preliminary Accounts of the Bliss Islands Archaeology Project, Phase II, edited by D. Black, pp. 73-79. New Brunswick Manuscripts in Archaeology# 24, Fredericton.
15. Beal, Clayton. Bangor Daily News, "Airplane Wreckage Found in Fishing Nets", Oct 1 1984
16. "NB Naturalist Feature: A new kittiwake colony in the Wolves - Nature NB". 26 March 2021.
17. "Information archivée dans le Web" (PDF).