Cains Island lies in the mouth of Rose Blanche Bay and no one lives there now. It provides shelter for Rose Blanche harbour when the winds are out of south. To the west of Cains Island, there is an excellent passage into the harbour, but to the east of the island, not so much, and only experienced skippers with small boats can pick their way between the natural breakwater and the granite bluffs with the Lighthouse on top. Take a look and you'll get a feel for the place …
Since arriving here a couple of years ago, Cains Island has been just beyond our reach. We don't have a boat, so there it sat, mysterious Caines Island that disappears from time to time in the fog. The Island community was resettled in the 1950s and early 60s, and one of the houses next to Katie-Lew cottage was moved from the Island at the time.
Fortunately for us, we now have a friend Anne who has the use of a row boat, Little Rosie-Lynne, and she had been to Cains Island before. So, on this day, with good weather and gentle seas, we ventured out to the Island, landing in a small cove behind the natural breakwater. It was approaching high-tide, so we only had a couple of hours to explore before Little Rosie-Lynne would be left high and dry.
History has it that Cains Island is more than the sentinel for Rose Blanche harbour. In fact, it was home to generations of fishing families. The Island was a step out into the Atlantic and the winter fishery. When the harbour froze and some fishermen were not able to get out to fish, those hardy souls on Cains Island could still get out when the cod fishing was at its best.
A census indicates there were 15 houses with 76 people in 1935. Many of the family names are still common in Rose Blanche and area today, Strickland, Anderson, Skinner, Rose, Billard, Spencer, White, Gillam and Currie. Of note, 7 of the houses were home to Currie families. Also of note, immediately upon landing, we noticed a plaque mounted on the rock in honour of the same Gillam family that was documented in the census. The Gillam family were the last lighthouse keepers on the Island.
There were a couple of different lighthouse structures on the Island over the years. One of the early pictures shows the substantial structures with light and living quarters on the south shore. The latest version is a simple unattended light.
I was very interested in finding the house site and the reported school that our neighbour Cecil attended as a child. He has told us stories about rowing across the narrows behind the breakwater or walking across the ice in the winter.
On the sheltered side of the Island, we found only one old foundation, a part of a fence, a couple of rusted relics, and a few old steel pins used in the day to anchor wharves to the shore.
In August, the vegetation was at its peak and probably hid other remains of the community. However overall, it appeared to be an amazingly clean site, leaving little for nature to reclaim since the 1960s.
I still have some questions about the source of fresh water on the Island and hydro poles seen in one of the lighthouse pictures, but thanks to Anne, some of the mystery of Cains Island and it's people has drifted out to sea. We know there are still many more stories to come from the local descendants of Cains Island families, our neighbours here on Parsons Point, and the senior folks of Rose Blanche.