Channel-Port aux Basques
Town
The Channel-Port aux Basques waterfront in October 2005.
Channel-Port aux Basques Location of Channel-Port aux Basques inNewfoundland Show map of Newfoundland Channel-Port aux Basques Channel-Port aux Basques (Canada) Show map of Canada
Coordinates:47°34′10″N59°08′10″W / 47.56944°N 59.13611°W /47.56944; -59.13611
Country	Canada
Province	Newfoundland and Labrador
Federal riding	Long Range Mountains
Incorporated	1945
Government
• Type	Channel-Port aux Basques Town Council
• Mayor	Brian Button
Area  (2016)[1][2]
• Total	38.77 km2 (14.97 sq mi)
• Population Centre	4.89 km2 (1.89 sq mi)
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population  (2021)[3]
• Total	3,547
• Density	104.9/km2 (272/sq mi)
• Population Centre	3,665
• Population Centre density	749.4/km2 (1,941/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−03:30 (NST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−02:30 (NDT)
Postal code span	A0M
Area code	709
Highways	Route 470 Route 1 (TCH)
Website	portauxbasques.ca
Channel Head Lighthouse
Coordinates	47°33′57.3″N59°07′24.8″W / 47.565917°N 59.123556°W /47.565917; -59.123556 (Channel Head Lighthouse)
Constructed	1875 (first)
Construction	wooden tower (first) cast iron tower (current)
Height	9 m (30 ft) (first) 17 m (56 ft) (current)
Shape	quadrangular tower with balcony and lantern (first) cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern (current)
Operator	Canadian Coast Guard[4][5]
Heritage	recognized federal heritage building of Canada
Fog signal	1 blast every 60s.
First lit	1895 (current)
Focal height	27.5 m (90 ft) (first) 29 m (95 ft) (current)
Range	17 nmi (31 km; 20 mi)
Characteristic	Fl W 10s.

Channel-Port aux Basques is a town at the extreme southwestern tip ofNewfoundland fronting on the western end of theCabot Strait. AMarine Atlantic ferry terminal is located in the town which is the primary entry point onto the island of Newfoundland and the western terminus of theNewfoundland and Labrador Route 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) in the province. The town was incorporated in 1945 and its population in the 2021 census was 3,547.^[3]

Port aux Basques is the oldest of the collection of villages that make up the present-day town, which consists of Port aux Basques, Channel,Grand Bay and Mouse Island. The town is called "Siinalk" in theMiꞌkmaq language.

Channel was settled by fisher-folk from theChannel Islands in the early 1700s. Port aux Basques refers to the harbour that was a favoured sheltering and watering place forBasque whalers who hailed from theBasque region of Spain during the early 16th century. After leaving the harbour thewhalers either proceeded to the main whaling grounds off southern Labrador, or headed home to the Basque country. They almost certainly took on fresh water from Dead Man's Brook, which flows into Port aux Basques harbour, during their stopovers.

Port aux Basques is first seen on a 1687Johannes van Keulen map of the area. Permanent settlement came from French fishermen who overwintered on this, theFrench Shore, using rights given under the 1713Treaty of Utrecht which saw France cede its claims in Newfoundland to Great Britain in exchange for right of use of coastal lands for the fishery. With the fishery being the economic mainstay for both French and British settlers in the area, Channel-Port aux Basques^[6] appeared destined to remain a collection of small fishing villages.

In 1856, an underwater telegraph cable^[7] was successfully laid between Newfoundland andCape Breton Island, making landfall nearby. This was the first step in the race to complete atrans-Atlantic telegraph cable. A telegraph station was opened in Port aux Basques in 1857.

In the 1880s, theGovernment of Canada erected a lighthouse at nearbyCape Ray which, despite being in the then-separate Britishcolony of Newfoundland, was considered a navigation hazard for vessels bound for Canadian ports in theGulf of Saint Lawrence.

In 1893, it was decided to extend the western terminus of theNewfoundland Railway (then under construction west from theAvalon Peninsula byRobert G. Reid) fromSt. George's to Port aux Basques harbour. By 1897 the tracks reached Port aux Basques, although the harbour facilities had not been built at that time to handle the steamerBruce, which had been built in Scotland and had arrived in Newfoundland several months earlier. While the required docks were constructed, theBruce operated between Little Placentia Sound andNorth Sydney, Nova Scotia from October, 1897 until June, 1898.

On June 30, 1898, the first passenger train arrived in Port aux Basques, andBruce departed for North Sydney shortly afterward. Over the years, the narrow gauge Newfoundland Railway expanded both the number of trains and vessels which called at Port Aux Basques. In 1925 the steamerSSCaribou began service. She was attacked and sunk by theGerman submarine U-69 (1940) on 14 October 1942 with a loss of 137 lives, some from the Port aux Basques area. There were 20 widows fromCaribou sinking in the Port aux Basques area.

The town of Channel-Port aux Basques was incorporated in 1945 with Samuel (Sam) Walters as the first mayor.^[8] In 1964 the community of Mouse Island was annexed.^[8]

On March 31, 1949, Newfoundland entered intoConfederation and the railway was transferred toCanadian National Railway. Under Term 32 of the Terms of Union between Canada and Newfoundland (1949), the ferry service between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland was guaranteed, first under theBritish North America Act and after 1982 under theConstitution of Canada.^[9]

Upon CNR's assumption of the railway and ferry service, the 1950s saw extensive construction at Port aux Basques with expansion of newdock facilities and the arrival of newer and larger ships such as theMVWilliam Carson. Extensive blasting of rock created space for largerail yards with extensivedual gauge trackage. The excess rock was then used as fill to create the required docks. By the mid-1960s, newrailcar-capable ferries such as theMVFrederick Carter permitted theexchange ofstandard gauge railcars, requiring further expansion at the Port aux Basques terminal facilities.

The mid-1960s also saw the completion of theTrans-Canada Highway across Newfoundland, an event which eventually led to the closure of the railway by 1988, but which made Port aux Basques into an even more important gateway to the island of Newfoundland, given the increased number of tourists visiting the province, and the rising amount of truck traffic. NewRo-Pax-capable vessels were commissioned and/or chartered during the 1960s–1980s to meet the growing demand, such asMarine Nautica,Marine Atlantica,Marine Evangeline,Ambrose Shea, andJohn Hamilton Gray.

With the abandonment of the railway, extensive rebuilding of Port aux Basques terminal resulted in expansive marshaling areas for waiting motor vehicle traffic. Aplant disease inspection station operated by theCanadian Food Inspection Agency is located on site, as well as a modern rebuilt railway station now used as a passenger terminal for the ferry service operated byMarine Atlantic, which was renamed fromCN Marine in 1986. Port aux Basques harbour used to host the arrival of the two largesticebreaking ferries in Canada at the time, theMV Caribou andMV Joseph and Clara Smallwood both of which were retired and decommissioned in 2011.

In September 2022, the town was partially evacuated due toHurricane Fiona.^[10] Over 100 homes were reportedly washed away from the wind and storm surge in Newfoundland with a bulk of the homes being from the town.^[11] Many locals of the town claimed that it was the worst storm they’ve ever seen, and a community changing event. The town declared a state of emergency on September 24, 2022.^[12] On September 26, 2022, RCMP confirmed a 73-year-old Port aux Basques woman was killed after being swept out into the ocean.^[13] Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province with a confirmed loss of life directly related to the storm.

In the2021 Census of Population conducted byStatistics Canada, Channel-Port aux Basques had a population of3,547 living in1,652 of its1,814 total private dwellings, a change of −12.8% from its 2016 population of4,067. With a land area of 38.84 km² (15.00 sq mi), it had a population density of91.3/km² (236.5/sq mi) in 2021.^[3]

Both theTrans-Canada Highway and theTrans Canada Trail have theirNewfoundland and Labrador start and end points in Port aux Basques.

In 2009, a larger and more modern vessel, theMV Atlantic Vision, was added to the fleet. With a larger carrying capacity and an equivalentice class to the MVCaribou, the MVAtlantic Vision was introduced as the new flagship for Marine Atlantic.^[20] Following the retirement of the MVCaribou and the MVJoseph and Clara Smallwood, two more new ships were acquired on a 5-year charter fromStena Line. These two new ships, theMV Blue Puttees andMV Highlanders currently round out the Marine Atlantic fleet. Marine Atlantic announced in May 2015 that it would be purchasing both ships forC$100 Million each.^[21]

The Port aux Basques campus of theCollege of the North Atlantic first opened as the District Vocational School in September 1963. The school was constructed by MR Chappell of Nova Scotia because Lundrigans Ltd ofCorner Brook who was constructing the other District Vocational Schools in Newfoundland couldn't move their equipment and supplies over the uncompleted road fromCorner Brook to Port aux Basques. TheTrans-Canada Highway from Corner Brook to Port aux Basques was completed in 1965.

Channel-Port aux Basques experiences a maritime-influencedsubarctic climate that has theKöppen climate classification code of(Dfc). The location has strongseasonal lag as well as being cold for the latitude. This is since it is being influenced by theIcelandic Low and theLabrador Current, which renders a rare combination of cold and snowy winters along a seacoast at47°N. In summer the warmup is strongly delayed by the cold waters and westerly winds from the interior of Canada are very cold in winter, further delaying the warming of the water. As a result, August is clearly warmer than July, and even September is more than 2 °C (3.6 °F) warmer than June is. Winter precipitation often falls as snow, for a high annual yield, but rainfall even in the coldest of February is still quite common, which lowers the snow cover to average about 55 cm (22 in) at its annual peak.^[22]

Port aux Basques placed second in the top five communities forKraft Hockeyville 2008, and won $20,000 for its local arena. Its sports arena, Bruce I, burned down in 1995, just prior to the hockey season. It was located on top of Army Hill on a road named Stadium Road down in Channel. The new arena, Bruce II Sports Centre, was opened on November 23, 1996.

• List of lighthouses in Canada
• List of municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador
• Isle aux Morts

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forPort aux Basques.

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• Lighthouses in Newfoundland and Labrador

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