The crusty seaman said he was an American on U.S. Will the Yanks disembark? Norton once unloaded passengers during stormy weather, despite contrary orders from the warden. ![]() We pass each other warily, like sharks circling their prey. On our bell lap the American boat arrives, a landing skiff lashed to its side. ![]() Our fate: circling the island, watching from afar. Normally we’d land, march into the wooden blinds scattered about and enjoy birds-eye views of the puffins. Puffins are now zipping past us, heading for shore or dropping into the sea to frolic with the arctic terns and razorbill auks. I reach into my bag, hoping to somehow find a tiny Old Glory tucked inside, but come up empty-handed. But he died in 2004, and no one filled his sea boots. Festooned in patriotic garb, clutching an American flag, he’d solemnly proclaim Machias American territory. Wilson tells me Mainer Barna Norton landed on Machias Seal Island annually for decades, as captain of the American puffin boat and as a U.S. Now I smile an opaque fog obscures the flagpole. “Whose flag is flying on the island?” he replies, just as the boat edges into sight. If one country becomes island-owner, the other side’s fishermen have to pack up their traps and go home. Fishermen from both countries want to continue setting traps in the lobster-rich waters surrounding the island, dubbed the Gray Zone (Grey Zone to the Canucks). ![]() Why spar over a 1-mile by 300-yard chunk of rock? It’s not about the puffins, cute as they may be. maintains since we own the island, we don’t need to do anything to prove it. Who knew our genial northern neighbors were so sneaky? With typical American braggadocio, the U.S. (A keeper still resides on the island today, though the automated light makes his job superfluous.) And they designated the island a Canadian Bird Sanctuary overseen by the Canadian Wildlife Service. While joshing with us over the years, the Canadians quietly assumed operation of Machias’ lighthouse, once a job shared by both countries. “It’s not serious,” he says, then adds, “Well, it is and it isn’t.” Canadians Take Control of Machias Seal Island Canadian Jim Wilson soothes my ruffled feathers, saying arguments over the island are in jest. Had I known, I would’ve joined the American-led excursion. ![]() A polite kerfuffle over the island is at 200 years and counting. Canadians posit a 17th-century British land grant shows Machias Seal Island as part of Nova Scotia. Yet the treaty also excluded any island once part of Nova Scotia. Yanks say it was ceded to them under the Revolutionary War-ending Treaty of Paris, which gifted colonists all islands within 70 miles of the American shore (Machias sits 10 miles from Maine). Why the international divide? “Both countries claim the island,” says Peter Wilcox, captain of the Canadian-flagged Day’s Catch. To protect the puffins, once near extinction, only 30 people may set foot on the island daily during their breeding season - 15 from the U.S., 15 from Canada. Thousands of the stocky black-and-white birds with the colorful beaks breed here every summer. What to do?įifteen of us are heading to Machias Seal Island to go Atlantic puffin-peeping. I’m a traitor, I realize ruefully, as the Day’s Catch muscles through choppy waters. It won a prestigious Lowell Thomas Gold Award for Best Short Travel Article in 2016. This article on Machias Seal Island was published in Islands magazine.
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