Covehead Harbour Lighthouse

While exploring the north shore of Prince Edward Island, we stopped at Covehead Harbour Lighthouse in the community of Stanhope. It sits among the sand dunes of Prince Edward Island National Park, overlooking the entrance to Covehead Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

At first, it was exactly the kind of scene I associate with Prince Edward Island—a small red-and-white lighthouse surrounded by beach grass, sand and an enormous blue sky. But the plaque attached to the lighthouse told a much darker story about these waters. The name “Yankee Gale” reflects the fact that many of the fishermen caught in the storm were Americans. Fishing vessels from New England regularly worked the rich waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and when the storm struck, many were operating off Prince Edward Island’s north shore. It commemorates the Gale of 1851, remembered on Prince Edward Island as the Yankee Gale.

On October 3 and 4, 1851, a devastating storm swept along the eastern seaboard and struck the waters surrounding Prince Edward Island. The plaque records the loss of 74 ships and approximately 150 lives. Parks Canada describes it as the worst storm in Island history. The name “Yankee Gale” reflects the fact that many of the fishermen caught in the storm were Americans. Fishing vessels from New England regularly worked the rich waters of the Gulf of St.  Lawrence, and when the storm struck, many were operating off Prince Edward Island’s north shore.

For the people living along this coast, the aftermath must have been overwhelming. Wrecked vessels and bodies came ashore along the Island. Some of the American sailors who died during the gale were buried nearby in the Stanhope Pioneer Cemetery, where their graves remain part of the cultural history protected within Prince Edward Island National Park.

The lighthouse we photographed was not standing here when the tragedy occurred. In fact, navigational range lights were not established at Covehead Harbour until 1879. Those first lights were lanterns mounted on movable masts, an ingenious solution because shifting sands continually changed the harbour entrance. Eventually permanent structures replaced them. The present lighthouse was constructed in 1975, replacing a 1967 tower.

Although relatively modern, the little lighthouse preserves a much older maritime tradition. Its lantern contains a revolving bull’s-eye Fresnel lens reported to be more than a century old, and in 2015 the lighthouse received formal heritage recognition. The waters beyond these dunes were once the scene of one of the greatest maritime disasters in Prince Edward Island’s history. The lighthouse that stands here today came much later, but its purpose—helping mariners find their way safely through these waters—connects directly with the dangers that generations of fishermen and sailors faced along this coast.