Facing the Open Sea: The People of Big Tancook Island

William G. Godfrey is a professor of history at Mount Allison University
in New Brunswick.

With its 250 residents and 90 homes, Tancook Island, approximately six
miles off the Nova Scotian coast from Chester, can lay claim to being
the most populated island in Mahone Bay. After a holiday visit in 1973,
George Bellerose returned in late 1976 to re-create a year in the life
of the island. Blending photographs, the words of the islanders
themselves, and brief analytic summaries, this book provides an
interesting and unsentimental portrait of the islanders’ way of life
on sea and shore, as well as a glimpse of the changing nature of their
community.

First settled in the late 1700s, the island’s reliance on the fishery
has remained largely unchanged, while boatbuilding, agriculture, and
other activities have ebbed and flowed as significant economic
activities. The limited timeframe of Bellerose’s account leaves many
questions about the island’s fate unraised and unanswered. Facing the
Open Sea is nevertheless a snapshot worth preserving.