BLEAKER ISLAND 52°12S, 58°51'W East Falkland
The settlement lies in the centre of the island, just above the narrow isthmus and North West of Pebbly Bay. There is one older house occupied by a couple who run the island and two newer houses, one constructed for the owners and the other for tourists. This island is privately owned, it is an organic sheep farm, in 2018 Bleaker carried 886 sheep, and the island is turning to tourism.
Most of Bleaker is dwarf shrub and greens, the tussac fringe has gone. Lady slippers, dog orchids and yellow orchids are some of the beautiful wild flowers that may be seen. Bleaker is a good place to see wildlife. There are Gentoo, Rockhopper and Magellanic penguins and a colony of king cormorants. Black-necked swans and Chiloe wigeon, silver and speckled teal, silvery and white-tufted grebes, and the rare ruddy- headed goose might be seen along with many other breeding Falklands birds. Since 1970 the north of Bleaker has been designated a Wild Animal Sanctuary and is and Important Bird Area.
Bleaker has a grass airstrip and cruise liners land visitors by Zodiacs on the mile long Sandy Bay.Bleaker island lies close to the south-east of Lafonia, East Falklands, separated only by a narrow stretch of water ‘the Jump’, so close that a boat could be rowed across from neighbouring Driftwood point on Lafonia to pick up teachers, doctors clergy or other visitors from North Arm. Bleaker was once known as ‘Breaker Island’ for the waves which broke upon it then ‘Long Island’ for its shape. The Spanish named it ‘Maria Island’. The island has an area of 2070 hectares (5115 acres) and rises to only 27m (89ft); at its widest Bleaker is no more than 2.5 km 1.6 miles). There are several large ponds.
It is highly likely that Bleaker was first occupied by sealers and penguin hunters. In 1871 the island was reported to be still fringed with tussac and there were wild pigs. Sealers released wild pigs on islands that they worked so that they had a ready supply of fresh meat. (The notorious Captain Smyley claimed 'the pigs on Bleaker Islands were put there by me in 1839'. Also five vaults were found, originally assumed to be graves but now are thought to have been for food-penguin egg or penguin oil storage. Bleaker was owned by The Falkland Islands Company, owners of all Lafonia. The island was used for breeding ewes to produce lambs for wool production on their mainland farms.
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Bleaker’s low aspect on an Atlantic side of the Falklands resulted in the island becoming host to many shipwrecks in the days of sail.
The French barque Cassard, sailing with a cargo of wheat from Australia to England, wrecked off Bleaker on 20th May 1906, having struck the reef. The Captain and crew all managed to get ashore although some had to swim. Her wreck was sold by public auction to the FIC for £355 and her cargo sold for a further £20.
The Gleam, a yawl intended to be of service to West farmers, wrecked on Bleaker just three months after she arrived in the islands in 1906.
The schooner Hattie L M , an ex Nova Scotia sealer, was lost off Bleaker in 1910, and the Exe, a yawl was lost there in 1920. |
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Bleaker was owned by The Falkland Islands Company, owners of all Lafonia. The island was used for breeding ewes to produce lambs for wool production on their mainland farms. William Fell, who had worked for them from when he arrived in the islands in 1860, was granted a lease by the Falkland Islands Company (for pastoral purposes), of Bleaker and Halt Islands for 21 years from 1 June 1879. He retired to Stanley in 1897. Authur Frederick Cobb, a keen ornithologist, (1877-1965?) managed the sheep farm and lived on Bleaker Island for at least 17 years. He studied and made notes of the natural history on the island during his time there and published a book 'Birds of the Falkland Islands' in 1933. Cobb's Wren is named for him. |
Sources include: Falkland Rural Heritage- Joan Spruce with Natalie Smith, nationalarchives.gov.fk/Jane Cameron National Archives/ Land/ buildings,
Photographic credits: Jeremy Richards/Shutterstock.com, Gillian Santink/Shutterstock.com. |
    
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Bleaker Island Jeremy Richards/Shutterstock.com
