Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia
Encyclopedia
Burntcoat Head is an unincorporated Canadian
community in Hants County
, Nova Scotia
and is known internationally as the site where it was officially recorded that the Bay of Fundy
, and specifically Burntcoat, has the highest tides in the world.
and has recorded the highest tidal range in the world. Tides at Burntcoat Head average 55.8 feet, with the highest being set during the 1869 Saxby Gale
at 70.9 feet. (According to who? The values below are not consistent with this statement)
The Guinness Book of World Records (1975) declared that Burntcoat had the highest tides in the world:
The National Geographic Magazine
(August 1957) also made a similar assertion: “The famous tides of the Bay of Fundy move with deceptive quiet. Sheltered from the open sea, they ebb and flood to a recorded range unequal in the rest of the world.”
and walking trails and displays that interpret the natural and human history of the Minas Basin. Burntcoat has one of the only two lighthouses remaining in the municipality of East Hants. The other lighthouse is in Walton, Nova Scotia
.
and his family built a chapel in Burntcoat on the west side of the Noel Bay. At this time, Burntcoat was known as "Steeple Point". The Acadians in the Noel Bay vacated the community in 1750, a year after the founding of Halifax by the British.
.
The Acadian name for west side of the Noel Bay (i.e., present day Burntcoat) was "Pointe Cloche", indicating a chapel was likely located on the west side of the bay at Noel, Nova Scotia
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
community in Hants County
Hants County, Nova Scotia
Hants County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia which was the home of Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Alden Nowlan and Noel Doiron. The county of Hants was created June 17, 1781, and consisted of the townships of Windsor, Falmouth and Newport...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
and is known internationally as the site where it was officially recorded that the Bay of Fundy
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
, and specifically Burntcoat, has the highest tides in the world.
Highest Tides in the World
Burntcoat Head has a public wharf that has been the location of a tide gauge since the 19th century. The tide gauge at Burntcoat Head is currently operated by the Canadian Hydrographic ServiceCanadian Hydrographic Service
The Canadian Hydrographic Service is Canada's hydrographic office, with responsibility for performing hydrographic surveys and publishing paper and electronic nautical charts...
and has recorded the highest tidal range in the world. Tides at Burntcoat Head average 55.8 feet, with the highest being set during the 1869 Saxby Gale
1869 Saxby Gale
The Saxby Gale was the name given to a tropical cyclone which struck eastern Canada's Bay of Fundy region on the night of October 4-5, 1869. The storm was named for Lieutenant Stephen Martin Saxby, a naval instructor and amateur astronomer who, based on his astronomical studies, had predicted...
at 70.9 feet. (According to who? The values below are not consistent with this statement)
The Guinness Book of World Records (1975) declared that Burntcoat had the highest tides in the world:
“The Natural World, Greatest Tides: The greatest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy.... Burntcoat Head in the Minas Basin, Nova Scotia, has the greatest mean spring range with 14.5 metres (47.5 feet) and an extreme range of 16.3 metres (53.5 feet).”
The National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
(August 1957) also made a similar assertion: “The famous tides of the Bay of Fundy move with deceptive quiet. Sheltered from the open sea, they ebb and flood to a recorded range unequal in the rest of the world.”
The Only Son
The Burntcoat lighthouse accompanied wooden sailing ships since the Golden Age of Sail in Nova Scotia. Built in 1858, the lighthouse was built on land which eventually became an island. A narrow neck of land, just wide enough for a team of horses and wagon, connected it with the mainland. After the strip of land was eroded, the inhabitants went to and from the lighthouse by climbing up and down the bank by means of a ladder. There were five kerosene lamps that were cleaned and lit every evening. The lighthouse keeper of the first lighthouse saw the crashing of the schooner the Only Son (1898). This vessel belonged to the Mariner of Minasville, Captain William Scott. The vessel was being sailed by his sons in a storm and was dashed to pieces off the rocks of Burntcoat. The sons survived and the only part of the vessel that remains is the vessels guiding light. The first lighthouse was eventually lost to erosion of the coast.The Airplane Pilots
The lighthouse was re-built in its present site (1913). The lighthouse was kept by William Faulkner and his family, on whose land the lighthouse was built. The gas light in this house was raised every evening on a 76 ft. tower. During the Great Depression, a German mail plane crashed off the coast at 3:30 am on 6 October 1931. Many local residents, including the lighthouse keeper Thomas Faulkner, heard the loud roar of the plane over their homes and then an explosion in the bay and then silence. Fifteen minutes after the crash the lighthouse keeper Faulkner heard screams from the water. The lighthouse keeper made his way to the Noel wharf to see if a rescue boat was available. There was a schooner, however, Faulkner had to wait for an hour before the tide was high enough to push it off. While he waited, the pilots continued to scream. After an hour, as the schooner began to float, the pilots fell silent. After a twelve hour search, the bodies of the pilots were not found. The only reminance of the plane that was found was the gas tank. A week later, a pilot's body was found by a passing tugboat. Immediately after the event, Thomas Faulkner reported that he thought he could have saved the men had he had a boat ready. The local newspaper reported that the crew were trying to set a record for mail delivery from Europe to New York.Commemorative Park
The lighthouse eventually burned (1972). To commemorate the history of the lighthouse and the site where the highest tides in the world have been recorded, the community rebuilt the lighthouse (1995). A park at Burntcoat Head contains a replica lighthouseLighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
and walking trails and displays that interpret the natural and human history of the Minas Basin. Burntcoat has one of the only two lighthouses remaining in the municipality of East Hants. The other lighthouse is in Walton, Nova Scotia
Walton, Nova Scotia
Walton is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipal District of East Hants, which is in Hants County, Nova Scotia. The community is named after James Walton Nutting ....
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Acadians
Noel DoironNoel Doiron
Noel Doiron was a leader of the Acadians, renown for the decisions he made during the Deportation of the Acadians. Doiron was deported on a vessel named the Duke William . The sinking of the Duke William was one of the worst marine disasters in Canadian history...
and his family built a chapel in Burntcoat on the west side of the Noel Bay. At this time, Burntcoat was known as "Steeple Point". The Acadians in the Noel Bay vacated the community in 1750, a year after the founding of Halifax by the British.
Ulster Scots
The first settlers after the Acadians were three Faulkner brothers, Thomas, Edward and Robert, who were Ulster Scots people (1806). Their paternal grandfather immigrated from Ireland to Massachusetts, eventually dying in the Battle of Fort Oswego (1756), New York in the Seven Years War. Their father moved away from Massachusetts and settled with his children across the Cobequid Bay in the Londonderry Township, Nova ScotiaLondonderry, Nova Scotia
Londonderry is an unincorporated community located in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada, formerly called Acadia Mines. A bustling iron ore mining and steel making town of some 5,000 in the late 19th century, the present population stands at around 200.-History:Londonderry saw the pouring of...
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Wooden ships
During the nineteenth century there were a number of shipyards in Burntcoat. The builder of the ship Milton of Kate McArthur fame lived here.Origins of Name
The origin of the name "Burntcoat" or "Burncoat", as the community is sometimes named, is unknown. The derivation of the spelling of the name is also unclear. Today the village on the west side of the Noel Bay is named Burntcoat, however, the Acadians named the village on the east side of the Noel Bay "Pointe Brull" (i.e., Burnt Point or Burnt Coast). Perhaps the Protestant settlers who came after the exodus of the Acadians from the community confused the names for the east and west side of the Noel Bay and thought the west side of the Bay was "Pointe Brull".The Acadian name for west side of the Noel Bay (i.e., present day Burntcoat) was "Pointe Cloche", indicating a chapel was likely located on the west side of the bay at Noel, Nova Scotia
Noel, Nova Scotia
Noel is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipal District of East Hants, which is in Hants County, Nova Scotia . The community is most well known for being named after its most prominent resident Noel Doiron and for ship building in the nineteenth century...
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