Sniffing the Coast: An Acadian Voyage

Ted Thring is a retired engineer and sailing aficionado who lives in
Kingston, Ontario.

In 1992, Silver Donald Cameron, accompanied by his wife and son, took a
leisurely summer cruise in their homebuilt wooden sloop Silversark.
Sailing through the Strait of Canso and Northumberland Strait, they
circumnavigated Prince Edward Island and called in at the Magdalen
Islands before returning to their home port on Isle Madame. This
fascinating account of that cruise includes a series of vignettes and
essays about the places they visited and the people they met en route.

At Summerside, for example, a friend points out an elegant old mansion,
which he calls a “fox house.” This leads to a discussion of the
development of fox ranching on the island, and the eventual decline as
fashions changed. In Charlottetown, we meet Harry Fraser, who publishes
a newsletter for potato growers and buyers.

As the family sails past the ferries plying between the Island and the
mainland, the author digresses into a history of the ferry service, from
before Confederation to the present, and offers a few scathing comments
about the proposed “fixed link.” There are historical notes about
the Acadians, the black population of Africville, and the Irving family.

Sniffing the Coast includes a first-rate chart of the cruise and some
rather amateurish black-and-white photos.