The New Student's Reference Work/Sable Island

Sable Island, a low-lying island in the Atlantic, 100 miles south of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to which it belongs. It is made of two sand-ridges, with a lagoon between them. The island has been called the sailors' grave, from the many shipwrecks happening there. Since 1873 three lighthouses have been built, of which two have been swept away and one undermined, as the island is fast sinking. Early in the 19th century it was 40 miles long, but now it is not more than 20. Near it are sandbanks and valuable fisheries.