![]() By Doug Crowell Recent episodes of History Channel's popular television show, Curse of Oak Island, have highlighted former island resident Samuel Ball and his various land holdings. One of these holdings has caused many people to ask, "Where is Hook Island?" You will not find it on current maps of Mahone Bay in Nova Scotia, but it is not located very far from Oak Island. It is a small island of about 3 acres, located only a half mile off the main land of Western Shore. Formerly owned by Daniel Vaughan (the same Vaughan family as co-Money Pit discoverer Anthony Vaughan Jr.), he sold Hook island to Samuel Ball, labourer, on March 13th 1790, as shown in the following entry in the Registry of Deeds: As you can see in the record above, Ball paid five pounds for the island, which Daniel describes thusly, "my island situated, laying and being on the west side of Mahone Bay,in the Township of Chester described and known by the name Hook Island." Many years later, on December 14th 1845, Samuel Ball passed away. His will left his estate to his servant Isaac Butler, and provided for the care of Sam's widow and a Mrs. Best. The story of Sam's will is very interesting and it stipulated that Isaac Butler must change his last name to Ball in order to inherit Sam's land. Whether Isaac did this or not is unclear, but he did take possession of Sam's land holdings because we pick up on the trail of Hook Island almost 40 years later when Isaac Butler (not Isaac Ball) sells Hook island to Archibald Rafuse on May 30th 1884. In the deed transfer record, Isaac describes Hook Island as "that certain island in Chester Bay known as Hook Island situated near the Western Shore and containing three acres more or less". Then Hook Island disappears. You can no longer find Hook Island on a map of Mahone Bay. Did it erode away over time? No. Was it renamed? Yes. What is the new name by which Hook Island is now known? You will likely shake your head and proclaim how obvious it should have been, for you can easily see the former Hook Island directly off the South Shore Cove of Oak Island. Only now it is known as Sam's Island. So how can we be sure that this is the Hook Island Samuel Ball owned (other than it now seemingly being named after him)? The only record we can find of Archibald Rafuse selling an island is in this deed record: As you can see from the segments of a lengthy deed record above, Archibald Rafuse sold to Anslom Rafuse "that certain island in Chester Bay in said county, known as Sam's Island and which said island lies to the east of lands of Albert Shupe and Edmond Shupe about one half mile from the mainland and containing three acres more or less." We believe it is certain that the Sam's Island mentioned here was formerly Hook Island, and that it simply became known as Sam's Island to the locals for obvious reasons. There is no doubt that the description matches Hook Island, and the chain of custody of the land went from Sam Ball to Isaac Butler to Archibald Rafuse. Sometime during the ten years that Archibald owned Hook Island, the name was likely dropped in favour of calling it by the name of its former owner, who likely had some notoriety by that time from living on "Treasure Island". Goodnight from The Blockhouse!
35 Comments
Scott
1/24/2017 02:41:38 pm
If Sam bought the island in 1790, would that be before or after his initial land purchase on oak island?
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2/10/2017 08:29:03 pm
The hook island which was disappeared due to the sudden change of the climate or environment. It is not an easy task to find it again but history channel makes the episode of this island and gives us knowledge. Now the new name of this island is Sams Island. It is a good article which is informative.
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Doug Crowell
1/24/2017 02:53:19 pm
After. Sam Ball bought his first lot on Oak Island in 1787.
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Jackie McGowan
2/5/2017 12:53:45 pm
Did Samuel Ball ever live on Hook Island if not why do you think he wanted it and bought it. Do you think if he fount any treasure which I think he did but do you think he took it to Hook Island to rehide it?
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Doug Crowell
2/8/2017 02:46:00 pm
Hi Jackie. I don't have any evidence that Sam lived there, but when Isaac Butler, Sam's servant, sold the island, it included a house, so the island was likely inhabited by someone.
Sherrie Wright
12/9/2017 06:18:47 am
I do believe Mr. Ball found something and he YES he may have moved what he could to this island in the thoughts that people would come and try to take it from him and his family. I also believe that's why Mr. Ball said that anyone who wanted to take over the land had to have his last name
Julie
1/2/2018 09:24:08 pm
Is this the same Doug Crowell on the show? I have never been more interested in oak island in my life until this show came on. Now I’m a mad researcher about it. I don’t remember them talking about ‘hook island’ though? I need to look through my recordings.
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Doug Crowell
1/24/2017 03:09:50 pm
Sam Ball bought Hook Island from Daniel Vaughan, whom it look like was granted the island, so Daniel was likely the first British subject to own the island. We did not bother to trace island ownership into the 1900s. Thanks for the inquiry!
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Jason
1/25/2017 06:37:39 am
Given that the land is connected to Samuel Ball, do Rick & Marty feel that the connection warrants at least a preliminary look at Sam's Island to rule it out from an evidentiary stance?
Dan
1/25/2017 02:31:40 am
I've always been intrigued by this island. It's in the shape of a triangle and about the same size and angle as the swamp on oak island.
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Jason
1/25/2017 04:53:55 am
Has this island ever been searched for treasures that could be linked to Oak Island?
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Doug Crowell
2/8/2017 02:47:02 pm
Not that I am aware of Jason.
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5/23/2017 11:58:55 pm
Would love to explore islands as well as beauty of nature.
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Tom mendelson
12/27/2017 10:39:08 pm
I find it highly suspicious that a cabbage farmer was able to afford purchasing lots of land on Oak island, and then purchases his own private island. I must assume Sam Ball found treasure on Oak, used that to buy more lots, and purchase Hook island ..where he may have stashed additional treasure that he dug up on Oak..Seems very plausable to me.
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Remi
2/11/2018 09:53:36 am
I agree with that
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Remi
2/15/2018 10:57:43 am
They may not have the right to go there, if it's private. Imagine watching the guys, spending tons of money searching, when you're sitting on a chest, full of gold, on the island just beside.
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Remi
1/14/2018 08:40:39 pm
On Zena's french map, about the island right to oak island is written "le atterrissage un mille trois cent quarante sept" witch is "the landing 1347" why writing this if it's useless? There is also another mistake on the translation, it's not "the angel" but "the cove", the word in french is not "la ange" but "la anse".
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Penny
3/1/2018 04:18:48 pm
I thought ‘angel’ couldnt possibly be correct. I agree the landing 1347 must hold some importance. The person drawing the map was careful to even add le barque and le batteau in the correct locations to indicate deep water (3-mast sailing ship) and shallows (a barge for towing or a pole-barge. Looks like everything on it was meant to hold importance to the reader.
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Christine
8/11/2018 10:00:57 am
Remi , I looked at this map , I am French , yes there are translation errors ! I did some research on "Le lionceau de Talmont" and François de La Rochefoucauld...I found a lineage 'Prince de Talmont" at < Talmont -sur- Gironde >
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Remi
11/20/2018 04:44:55 pm
Bonjour Christine, i'm french too, from Canada, I wrote to the town hall of Talmont and never received any answer. I wanted to know who was "le lionceau de Talmont"
Christine
11/30/2018 11:48:21 pm
Bonjour Rémi , je suis Française , si vous voulez me contacter pour avoir toutes les explications sur Le Lionceau de Talmont , je suis sur FB Christine MG Moreau
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Roger Limbach
1/20/2018 08:26:40 pm
The west shore is the area of the Barkhouse homestead. 1700s to present.
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Tim Kushner
1/21/2018 11:17:22 am
In a old photo I believe in 1931 aerial photo of a drilling site on Oak Island I noticed three sets of boulders in the shape of the Nolans cross, or Tree of Life, total of five Boulders in each pile, just wondering if anyone else had noticed that and that old picture, although two sets are large white Boulders in the picture one of them looks slightly moved and the other looks like darker Boulders or else they were once locations were Boulders once were set and possibly removed.
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Remi
2/11/2018 08:16:10 pm
My opinion on what Zena Halpern said about the cross found by Gary Drayton is bul...it. I,ve made a research on that goddess and she was never represented like that. She's talking through her hat. Templars were true believers in Jesus not in some kind of goddess. If you look closely, you can see a kind a tiny foot at the base ot the cross, like if someone have been crucified.
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Doug
2/11/2018 09:39:37 pm
Thanks for your comments Remi. It may be of interest to those who are aware of the cross found at Smith's Cove this year that an opinion was given that the cross might not be a cross, but rather a symbol of Tanit. Tanit is typically depicted by a circle for a head, a line for arms, and a triangle for a body. This is not always the case, and there are instances where it looks more like a cross with a round head, which is very similar to the artifact found on Oak Island. For those reading about Sam Ball's island, the cross is not associated with Hook Island, which this article is about (I don't want people to confuse the two islands). Cheers!
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Remi
2/15/2018 11:29:08 am
Sorry Doug but, i still don't agree with her, i hope they will send the cross for carbon-14 dating. Another thing here, the translation by that lady from LaRochefoucauld castle was wrong too, as you can see by my writing, i'm french, she included the word west (ouest) in her translation, that word belongs to the drawing below the text, nothing to do with what is written on top.
Penny
3/1/2018 04:26:02 pm
I agree with Remi that Ouest was not part of the message at the top. It is one of the compass points, unless it is also written somewhere at the top edge where it doesn't show in photos or video. Something looks similar to a paper clip mark up there.
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TJean
3/13/2018 06:24:52 pm
Love all the history being exposed. Its inspired me to continue digging for more info, which is what landed me on this page. There is much more to be unearthed and I hope the guys let us come along on the continuation of the journey.
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Mark
4/18/2018 03:49:33 pm
So who does now own sams or hook island there must be someone that owns it and be able to see if there is anything
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Rebecca Cope
12/30/2018 09:43:58 pm
I pretty sure the old man Blankenship owns it now
Remi
11/20/2018 04:33:54 pm
Your comment is very interesting, they might not search at the right place.
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From The Blockhouse
is published by Blockhouse Investigations and oakislandcompendium.ca in Nova Scotia, Canada Editors and Chief Correspondents Kelly W. Hancock, CD Doug Crowell Writers Jonathan Guy Contributing Writers John Wonnacott, P. Eng. Les MacPhie,P.Eng. Researchers Linda Rafuse Tammy Sloan Trevor McFetridge Consultants Alessandra Nadudvari Shawna Goodall Webmaster Jonathan Guy All material and images published herein, unless otherwise credited, are copyright of Blockhouse Investigations and oakislandcompendium.ca and may be reproduced by permission only. Views expressed in these blog posts are our own. The views of those that comment are their own. Archives
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