Main Duck Island
We had a smooth sail out the Upper Gap and a long starboard tack South. "The Rock" a cliff north of Waupoos Island is a prominent landmark to the right. After a short time, we picked up a long smudge of the False Ducks, then the low gray outline of Main Duck and Yorkshire Islands which rose and coalesced into two long, treed islands with a lighthouse on the west end of the larger.
I won't call the approach to Schoolhouse Bay anything but tricky, particularly first time. Following the range was straightforward, but in doing so, you can actually see the sides of the channel welling up from the deep a couple of feet from your hull! Add to this the crowd fishing derby boats trolling across and stopping mid channel...
Schoolhouse Bay is very shallow and weedy. There are frogs. Plant that anchor well or tie off to the shore. When boats start to accumulate later in the day, its quite congested. Oh, yes, there are bugs at night. Swimming is ill-advised as the little bay is full of huge snapping turtles.
Click to Enlarge
On our second visit we had fair weather, and took advantage of the open bay just to the west of Schoolhouse Bay. There are good depths but fussy holding ground. If the wind swings to NW, however, it's quite exposed - on a later trip in 2006 the wind arose at 1 AM, we dragged anchor and spent the rest of the night sailing back to Prinyer's Cove. In 2007 we had to return in fog and a thunder storm.
We highly recommend a hike ashore. There's a good trail from the mouth of Schoolhouse Bay right out to the lighthouse. The trail goes through woods as well as open fields. You can also access the South Beach from the head of Schoolhouse Bay.
The first lighthouse was placed on Main Duck Island in
the early 1800s.
With good visibility, the 198 m twin stacks of the Lennox Generating Station inside the Upper Gap are visible from Main Duck Island.
Old Lighthouse Keeper's House >
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Carpe Diem in School House Bay Summer 2007
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This is a
'major' snapping turtle. Swimming isn't recommended in Schoolhouse Bay....
King
Cole, was a colorful strong willed overlord who lived on Main Duck for thirty
years in the summer. He leased the land around the small harbor to a dozen or so
fishermen and a number of them worked and lived here with their families during
the warmer months netting lake trout and whitefish. His
main profits came from his fishing rights but he made a tidy fortune as a
bootlegger during prohibition. Many bootleggers used Main Duck as astopover on the way to the thirsty USA. Cole also ran a
wooden fish tug back and forth between Cape Vincent and the islandIn
later years the Coles left the farm in the care various caretakers. Besides
looking after the stock the caretakers also cut and stored ice for next summer's
fishing season. In the winter the only means of communication between the
isolated island and the outside world was by letters sent over to the mainland on small rafts equipped with evergreen branches for sails.
Old Ice House on School House Bay
South Beach - shells! The 'Azure' North Shore - look for the huge carp!
SNAKES: I should mention, though, that you will find lots of garter snakes - up to 1 meter long - on the beaches. That's a freakin' big snake. They're not poisonous, but folks tell me they will hiss and bite. Best leave them alone - please.
I wonder what a 3 foot garter snake eats?
In 1941 Main Duck Island was
purchased as a retreat and summer home by John Foster Dulles, US Secretary of State
under Eisenhower 1953 - 1959.
Negotiator
of the peace treaty
with Japan and strong supporter of the Korean War, he was Time's 1954 Man
of the Year and was awarded the Medal of Freedom. Dulles was best known
as the architect of
many aspects of the US '50's Cold War policy of brinkmanship and "Massive Retaliation"
against Communist expansion.
"The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art.. if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost."
click to enlarge
The log cabin used by Dulles and his wife Janet can still be seen near the lighthouse. Here they relaxed, hauled water, cooked and fished. Ah! The simple joys of DEFCON 2...
After a strident public campaign, Main Duck and Yorkshire Islands were acquired by Parks Canada in 1977 as nature preserves, which they essentially remain. The two islands became part of St. Lawrence Islands National Park in 1998. Main Duck is 518 acres in size and Yorkshire Island, very close by, is about 48 acres.
Swimming
in the same bay where the 100 foot wooden steamer John Randall
blew
ashore and was lost in the November gales of 1920.