Bliss Islands

Bliss Islands are undeveloped islands in the Saint George Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada in the Bay of Fundy.^[3][4][5] They are named after Samuel Bliss, the original grantee in the 18th century who was also granted title to White Horse Island.^[6][7]

The Bliss Islands have three shell middens, dubbed BgDq4, BgDq5 and BgDq6.^[8][9] An arrowhead estimated to date to 600BC has also been recovered in the BgDg6 midden.^[10][11]

Ernest Ingersoll mentions passing the islands, en route to Lubec by steamship from Saint John.^[12]

Spencer Fullerton Baird carried out a 19th century archaeological study of the islands.^[13] During the Saxby Gale of 1869, the Rechab ship sank in Bliss Harbour; in 1850 she had been part of a "mysterious" journey to the Turks and Caicos hoping to retrieve pirate treasure.^[14]

There is a lighthouse on the west end of the island, on the southern side of the western entrance to Bliss Harbour.^[15] As of 1879, Jarvis Clark and his family ran the lighthouse.^[16] In 1911, there was one family listed as living on the island.^[17]

In October 1925, Harry Stone's two-masted schooner Cora Gertie (purchased from the sons of Captain Crocker and built at Richardson's shipyard on Deer Island), sank with no lives lost, in a gale after being blown into Bliss Harbour and striking Man O War Islet. It had been parked 12 miles off the coast to sell smuggled White Horse whiskey which was salvaged from the sunken wreck.^{[18][19][20][21]} FoProhibition inspectors found ten gallons of alcohol in a bog on Spruce Island where the crew had reached shore.^[22]

In 2020, the Nature Trust of New Brunswick converted the island into a conservationist reserve.^[23]