BUNKER COVE Roque Island Archipelago

44° 33.63’N 067° 31.18’W

4th ed. Cruising Guide page 350

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Charts: 13326, 13325

Chart Kit: 77, 24

Downeast region overview chart Roque Island Archipelago chart Harbor chart

A SPLENDID anchorage known as Bunker Cove lies at the western end of the Thorofare in the gut between Great and Little Spruce Island, secluded and secure. In his history of Roque Island, Monks calls it “an almost landlocked small anchorage, considered by some yachtsmen the most beautiful on the Atlantic Coast.”
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The cove itself, however, has silted in. At most, there is only room for two or three boats to anchor in deep water without being forced into the Thorofare.
COPYRIGHT 2002 DIAMOND PASS PUBLISHING
Bunker Cove, like neighboring Bunker Hole, is named for Jack Bunker of Somes Sound. During the Revolution he heard about a British ship on the Sheepscot River collecting food, so he and a friend canoed down the coast and found the ship at anchor in Wiscasset, unguarded and full of provisions. They cut her cable, hoisted sail, and headed east to Somes Sound, where they distributed the provisions to their starving neighbors.
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Then, chased by another British vessel, they fled with their prize toward Roque and ran her into Bunker Hole, east of Little Spruce Island. Without local knowledge, the British were afraid to follow, and by the time they rowed past Little Spruce, the ship’s masts had been cut away and she was camouflaged with branches and trees. They never saw a thing.
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Approaches. From the west, enter the Thorofare between Little Spruce Island and Westerly Bar Island, which guards Patten Cove. Swing southward, leaving Easterly Bar Island to port, and enter Bunker Cove, in the narrow slot between Great and Little Spruce. The water shoals rapidly after you pass the cliffs on Great Spruce.
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Anchorages, Moorings. The only deep water in Bunker Cove is at the Cove's mouth. Cruising boats of moderate draft shouldn't go in much beyond a range between the first point on Great Spruce Island and the obvious shoulder on Little Spruce. The bottom is mud, with some weed.
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One effective way to anchor here is to drop the hook in the middle and take a stern line to a tree on the cliffs of Great Spruce.