Nixes Mate

Nixes Mate

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Location:

Boston Harbor

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

MANAGED BY:

U.S. Coast Guard

6.3 miles from Long Wharf, a black and white cone stands twenty feet high. Its purpose is to warn mariners of the convergence of three major shipping channels in the harbor (Nantasket Roads, President's roads, and the Narrows). The marker, called Nixes Mate, has been in place since 1805. It sits upon the remains of Nixes Island, which once had 12 acres. Today the "island" is impossible to see at high tide and covers only an acre long at low tide.¹

The origin of the name Nix is unknown. One legend claims that Nix had been a pirate who arrived in Boston in the 1690s. He and a companion went ashore the island to bury treasure. After they finished, he shot his companion and buried him on the island with the treasure. Another legend that originated in the 1800s says a Captain Nix had been betrayed by one of his mates. Sent to the island as punishment, the mate continued to profess his innocence. Before his demise, the marooned man cursed the island. He said that the island would disappear beneath the waves to prove that he was not guilty.²

There are a couple, more likely reasons for the island’s disappearance. First granted to John Gallops for use as pastureland in 1636, colonists quarried rock from the island throughout the 1700s. It is plausible that this impacted the size of the island over time. Another likely reason is erosion. Located where the three channels converge, Nixes Mate faces incredibly rough water.  

 While the story behind the naming of Nixes is fiction, crime upon the high seas did leave its mark on the history of the island. Boston saw its fair share of buccaneers. One of these buccaneers, William Fly, led a mutiny against the captain of the Elizabeth. Fly and his coconspirators continued to sail the ship, until their capture. Found guilty, and Executed for their crimes, Bostonians took their corpses to Nixes Mate for public display.³

Learn More...

Island Facts: Nixes Mate - Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

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Footnotes

1. Moses Foster Sweetser, King's Handbook of Boston Harbor (Cambridge, MA: Moses King, 1883), 173-175.
2. Moses Foster Sweetser, King's Handbook of Boston Harbor (Cambridge, MA: Moses King, 1883), 173-175.
3. Ken Mallort, Boston Harbor Islands: National Park Area. (Camden, Maine: Down East Books, 2003).