Native name: Malsumook [1] | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Bay of Fundy |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Province | New Brunswick |
| County | Charlotte |
| Parish | Pennfield Parish |
The Wolf Islands (or The Wolves) are undeveloped islands in the Pennfield Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada in the Bay of Fundy. [2] [3] [4] They are 60-100' in height, "steep and bold", with deep passages between them ranging from 12 to 20 fathoms. [5] They are sometimes named as the fourth of the major archipelagos that make up the Fundy Islands, alongside Campobello Island, Deer Island and Grand Manan. [6] The islands have been identified as written about in the 1604 writings of Samuel Champlain and Sieur de Monts. [7]
Contents
- East Wolf Island
- Flat Wolf Island (Fatpot Island)
- Green Rock (Gull Rock)
- Horseshoe Rock
- Spruce Island (Flat Wolf Island)
- Southern Wolf Island
- References
It is considered a "Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area". [8] A pond at Southwest Cove on East Wolf Island is the only source of freshwater. [9]
Spotted in 1603 by Samuel Champlain, they were named Les Isles des Perdreaux". [10] They became known for the frequency of shipwrecks. [11]
In 1798, the islands were granted to Caleb Paul. [12] As of 1851, the family of James Paul were the only settlers living in the cluster of islands. [13]
On May 21 1863, Jesse Wright published notice that he had discovered the corpse of a disfigured British soldier with his hands cut off washed up on the coast of the Wolf Islands dressed in his military uniform as a 1st Battalion infantryman with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment 16th Regiment. [14]
After the government built a lighthouse in 1871, without ascertaining ownership of the islands, Paul's ancestors who still claimed the islands demanded to be reimbursed by rent or purchase of the land being used. [12]
Together with nearby White Horse Island, it is one of the southernmost breeding kittiwake colony in the world. [15]
In August 1953, Captain Douglas Stultz reported catching tuna, uncommon in the area, on a rod near the Wolf Islands. [16]
The Wolves have been "the scene of many shipwrecks", [17] including the ship New England, which was wrecked on the Wolf Islands in 1872. [18]
There are six main islands, with their name suggested to have arisen from Passamaquoddy lore about the islands being likened to predators chasing nearby Deer Island.
