Cut Throat Island

In August 2000 I made my third trip down the wonderful Labrador coast in my 32 foot sailboat Meriah. This year I was returning from a round trip from Sydney Nova Scotia to Greenland and back to Sydney. I set off from Sydney on 11 June with a single crewmember and we sailed direct to Nuuk Greenland with a brief stop at Battle Harbour in Labrador. We crossed back to Cape Chidley at the northern tip of Labrador in late July. My crew flew home from Nain so I completed the rest of the trip sailing single-handed.

I had visited the radar sites at Fox Harbour and Hopedale in 1999 before I discovered the Pinetree Line website. Having been contacted by Ren L'Ecuyer I promised to try and get photos of some of the other Labrador coast sites during my 2000 trip. I took copies of the maps from Ren's website and decide to try for Makkovik, Cut Throat and Spotted Island.

The most important consideration was where to anchor at these locations. To leave Meriah unattended at anchor on a deserted coastline I needed a protected harbour with good holding for the anchor and a good weather forecast. Makkovik looked promising as I approached from the north because there is a cove on the north side of Cape Makkovik and there was a moderate SW wind blowing. Unfortunately I couldn't get the anchor to dig in firmly. Every time I put the engine in reverse to set the anchor, I could feel it skipping over the rocky bottom. Spotted Island has a good harbour but unfortunately it faces SW and there was a SW gale forecast when I got there so I couldn't take the risk - I have to be quite conservative when sailing on my own.

Fortunately the weather Gods were with me when I got to Cut Throat Island on 10 August 2000. I had sailed about 60 miles from Grady Harbour where I had spent the previous night and light winds were forecast for the next couple of days. The harbour is open to the SW but the anchor holding was very good and there was enough room to swing with at least 5 feet under Meriah's keel at low tide.

Next morning the weather was warm and sunny, just perfect for visiting the island. I rowed ashore and spent the first hour exploring the deserted community surrounding the harbour. It is typical of many fishing communities on the Labrador coast, which are occupied during the summer only. There was no church or school and the inhabitants return to their winter homes in Newfoundland or Labrador when the fishing season was over. A couple of the houses were locked up and still in good condition and may have been used occasionally as summer cottages although the community was deserted when I was there.

It wasn't hard to find the only road, which was obviously constructed just to service the radar site. The road is still in excellent condition all the way to the highest point of the island. At first I wondered where supplies for the site were offloaded then I discovered fuel tank foundations and a bollard for tying up ships in East Harbour which is just east of the community harbour. I don't know how other sites obtained drinking water but this one had it's own reservoir formed by a dam built across a ravine quite close to the top of the hill. The dam looks to be in perfect condition. It was quite easy to pick out the rest of the site facilities although all that remains is the concrete foundations. Just below the main site there is a small quarry, so I assume a rock crusher was brought in during construction.

It is quite a compact site and can be explored fully in about two hours. Cut Throat Island is about 60 miles north of Cartwright, which is accessible by air or ferry. In Cartwright you could easily arrange to be taken to the island by boat so in good weather you could visit Cut Throat in a single day from Cartwright. Spotted Island is about the same distance south of Cartwright so that could be another one-day visit. With a bit of careful planning, it would be possible to visit several sites up and down the Labrador coast, like Fox Harbour and Cape Makkovik, by flying or taking the ferry into the nearest community. If anyone is interested in how this could be done, I could provide some basic information. You don't need to own your own sailboat!

I have been sailing round the Newfoundland and Labrador coast for the last four years and consider it one of the best places in the world to visit by sailboat. The scenery is breathtaking and the people are among the friendliest that you could meet anywhere. The recent history of the cold war radar sites adds a fascinating extra dimension and I was very pleased to be able to contribute to the Pinetree Line website.

Tony Wright

tony@wright-photo.com