Boon Island

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For the island in the Pokémon series of games, see Sevii Islands.

The first time Boon Island, the barren piece of land off the Maine coast, was known was when a coastal trading vessel, the Increase, was wrecked on it in the summer of 1682. The four survivors—three white men and one Indian—spent a month on the island, living on fish and gulls' eggs. One day they saw smoke rising from Mount Agamenticus several miles away, so they built a fire in response.

The Indians at Mount Agamenticus saw the smoke from the island and the stranded men were soon rescued. Seeing their survival as a boon granted by God, the men named the island Boon Island. It's an ironic name for the desolate place poet Celia Thaxter called "the forlornest place that can be imagined."

A more famous shipwreck was the December 11, 1710 destruction of the British Merchant ship, Nottingham Galley. The 14 occupants survived the wreck, but two died of their injuries and another two were drowned trying to reach shore in a type of home-made raft. Ten men managed to stay alive in the winter conditions with no food and no firewood for 24 days, until finally rescued. They resorted to cannibalism, and that gave the incident a fame and notoriety which it has even today. It is said that after this disaster local fishermen began leaving barrels of provisions on Boon Island in case of future wrecks. The harrowing story was fictionalized by Kenneth Roberts in his novel Boon Island.

The first warning light was placed on Boon Island in 1799 but lasted only five years. The area's fierce storms demolished that one and several others until the tallest tower in New England was built—137 feet (42 m) of massive granite blocks at a cost of US$25,000. Keepers willing to live on the rocks in that miserable place were few; they came and went in a steady progression. One man seemed to thrive there; William W. Williams stayed 27 years and lived past ninety.

In 1978, two lightkeepers on the Island had to retreat from a powerful winter storm. They took shelter in the light chamber while the seas and wind demolished all the other structures on the island. Water rose five feet up the tower and dislodged a number of segments of the tower. The next day, they were rescued by helicopter. The tower was repaired and has been automated since that time, requiring no resident keeper. It is now powered by solar power.

In February of 1944, the Empire Knight, a 428-foot (130 m) British freight ship, ran aground at Boon Island and later broke into two sections. The stern section, which included the ship's cargo holds, sank in approximately 260 feet (80 m) of water, one and one half miles (2–3 km) from the Island. In August of 1990, the United States Coast Guard became aware of the existence of a plan of stowage dating from 1944 for the ship indicating that 221 flasks (7,620 kg) of mercury may have been loaded onto the vessel. Investigation revealed that such flasks had been placed on the ship but had since deteriorated, releasing the mercury. An estimated 16,000 pounds (7¼ t) of mercury remain unrecovered and is believed to have settled in the low point of the cargo hold.

In May 2000, the U.S. Coast Guard leased Boon Island Lighthouse to the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF) for the restoration and preservation of the historic isolated Sea Sentinel.

In an effort to raise funds to restore and maintain the remote Lighthouse, a fictional Lighthouse nation declared its independence as The Republic of Boon Island on April 1, 2003.