It is part of the Fischot Islands, that lay just east of the Great Northern Peninsula, to the south of the town of St. Anthony.
The inhabitants of the 1.3 km (0.81 mi) round island, all resettled to new towns in search of work and better opportunities for raising their families.
In Phantom Islands of the Atlantic, author Donald Johnson suggests that the legendary "Isle of Demons" – according to one account, inhabited by a beast as "big as an ox, with two teeth in its mouth like an elephant, who lives in the sea" – may correspond to present-day Fischot Island.
The permanent settlers to the island survived on an economy of fishing, mainly salmon, cod, capelin and herring.
Winter activities included hunting and woodcutting on the shores of Hare Bay, especially as there was no timber on the island itself.