Baccalieu Island or Bacalhoo Island[1] (/ˌbækəˈluː/)[1] is a 5 km2 uninhabited island at the northern extremities of Conception Bay in Subdivision 1G, near the community of Red Head Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is separated from the island of Newfoundland by Baccalieu Tickle, a small strait and an abundant fishing ground. The island has some trees but is mostly rocky.
The name Baccalieu is derived either from the Portuguesebacalhau, Spanishbacalao or the Basquebaccalos, all meaning "codfish". Early Portuguese maps dating before Columbus' voyage indicate an island west of the Azores named Terra do Bacalhau which may have been the whole island of Newfoundland. Modern Baccalieu Island was known to Europeans by that name since at least 1556, when it was drawn on the Gastaldi map as "Bacalaos".[2]
Baccalieu Island is the largest seabird island in Newfoundland and supports the greatest diversity of breeding seabirds in eastern North America. The island supports the largest known colony of Leach's storm-petrel in the world, approximately 40% of the global population and about 70% of the western Atlantic population of this species. It is a nesting area for 11 breeding species:
Atlantic puffin (45,000 pairs - approximately 12% of the eastern North America population)
Black-legged kittiwake (13,000 - approximately 5 to 7% of the western Atlantic breeding population); and
Northern gannet (677 pairs - approximately 1.5% of the North American population).
Historically, two lighthouses were operated on Baccalieu Island; today both are automated. The lighthouse on the northern end is not operational any more; its light was extinguished in the early 1990s. This lighthouse was replaced as an aid to navigation by an automated light on a skeletal tower. It was originally a brick tower and was later encased in iron. The two storey residence attached was removed after 1950. The old tower's data:
Tower height: 36 feet (11 m)
Height of focal plane: 443 feet (135 m)
Description: Red, conical cast iron
Date established: 1859
Date present tower built: 1858
Date deactivated: 1990s
Current use: Unknown
Open to public: No
Lighthouse Keepers
North Light Keepers
James Ryan (1858 - 1874) (died 1875)
John Ryan (1874 - 1891) (died 1891)
Francis "Frank" Ryan (1891 - 1941) (died 1942)
James Francis Ryan (1941 - 1950) (died 1994)
Vincent Keough (1950-?)
Joseph Hatch
Felix Noonan (1963)
Eric Blundon
John Hyde
James Meaney Jr. (assistant under Frank Ryan) (died 1939)
