Bernadette Stephens, age 12, of Burlington, Vt., for her question:

WHERE IS THE `GRAVEYARD OF THE ATLANTIC'?

There was a time when sailors called Sable Island in the North Atlantic Ocean the "Graveyard of the Atlantic." The island is located about 90 miles from Nova Scotia and it is about 20 miles long and one mile wide.

Today Canada maintains a life saving station, wireless station, meteorological station and two lighthouses on Sable Island. Only the station operators live on the island.

Dangerous submerged sand bars lie near the island. So many ships were wrecked off the island in the 1700s that many adventurers went there to pillage the cargoes. It was during this period when it received its "graveyard" tag.

In 1904, Nova Scotia established a lifeboat crew and armed guard there. Radar and other aids now prevent most of the accidents that happened in the old days.

A small herd of wild ponies roam the dunes on the island today. Supposedly these animals are descended from the horses that survived a shipwreck in the 1500s.