Portuguese captain selling Mi'kmaq In this version of the fireship tale, a Portuguese captain arrived on the shores of
Heron Island in
Chaleur Bay in 1501. Upon his second trip to the region to capture more Mi'kmaq natives for the slave trade, he was tortured and killed by the locals who had bitter memories of his first visit. A year later his brother came looking for him and was also attacked by the locals; their ship caught fire and they jumped into the waters and swore to haunt the bay for 1,000 years. In several eye witness reports from early settlers on Heron Island, most notably the Pettigrew family, the ship is most often seen on the north side of the island, during the full moon. In a horrifying incident, Mrs. Pettigrew reported to be on her veranda at dusk one summers evening in 1878, when a ghostly figure of a sailor appeared at the corner of the farm house, and reportedly asked her to help him, see to his burns. When she turned away from the figure to run inside, it apparently brushed by her and to her horror she realized he was legless. Victims, both Mi'kmaq and Portuguese of the sinking, reportedly washed up on the shores of the island, and were buried in shallow graves at French Woods, a low-lying area at the west tip of the island.
Pirate killing near Port Daniel This
Restigouche lady's version tells of a group of pirates who killed a woman. With her dying words she cast a curse upon them that "For as long as the world is, may you burn on the bay."
Sailor murdered aboard Sailors aboard a ship heading to sea in bad weather feared they would die and blamed their bad luck on one of their own whom they murdered. When the ship caught fire, it was told that it was Catholic blood reaping its vengeance. ==Explanation==