According to oral history, one of the first shipwrecks occurred in 1719 off the coast of present day Naufrage . A few survivors, including Francois Douville , made it to shore, and were still there the following year to welcome the French settlers that arrived in 1720. In 1760, two years after the deportation of the French settlers from the Island, it is told of a shipwreck that happened, again, at Naufrage . Naufrage , the French word for shipwreck, was called after this French ship that went down. Although the vessel had been lost four leagues out to sea, a few people survived. (32) With the French settlement at St. Pierre centered on the fishery, there must have been many more fatalities and shipwrecks, the details of which will never be known. After the arrival of the British in the St. Peters area, the first documented shipwreck was the Thomas in 1883 just off the entrance of St. Peters Bay . (33) In 1837, the Aimwell, of Richebucto, while on a fishing voyage was also wrecked near St. Peters . In this case the crew was saved. (34) Many of the boats that ran ashore were eventually auctioned off or sold. In 1839, the Asia ran ashore near Naufrage . In September of that same year The Colonial Herald ran an advertisement for the auction of the various parts of the ship: To be sold, by Auction on Tuesday next, the 24th instant, at 10 o'clock, at Naufrage , East Point , where she now lies stranded, the hull, spars, and materials of the Schooner Asia, 80 tons burthen, of Newbury Port, United States, consisting of sails, standing, and rigging (nearly new), blocks etc., together with the fishing gear, barrels of salt, empty barrels, and other articles saved from the wreck. Also foresail, mainsail, and jib (quite new) never bent, of superior construction. (35) Although much of the ship was salvaged and lived to see another day, the nine-crew members were lost, including its Capt. Bastin . In 1840 the schooner Mary Elizabeth sank off St. Peters Bay . In the fall of that same year the American Lass, belonging to Mr. Horatio of Charlottetown went aground near the entrance to St. Peters Harbor . The following April, in 1841, the ship was raised by means of screws and levers, and placed upon a sleigh that was sixty-two feet in length. It was hauled out on the ice half a mile "by the united strength of 82 horses" a sufficient distance to be out of danger of grounding when the ice broke UP- (36) Approximately 200 people assembled at the mouth of St. Peters Bay to witness this event. Evidence of shipwrecks or ships that had been stranded often appeared in a variety of forms, most of which washed into shore. In July 01 1841, an " A. Leslie " of Souris hauled up a ship's rudder in his net while fishing for salmon in the deepest part of St. Peters Bay . Placing an 37