Cabot Strait
title: "Cabot Strait" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["straits-of-newfoundland-and-labrador", "straits-of-nova-scotia", "straits-of-the-atlantic-ocean", "borders-of-newfoundland-and-labrador", "borders-of-nova-scotia", "canada–saint-pierre-and-miquelon-border"] topic_path: "geography/canada" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Strait" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox body of water"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Cabot Strait |
| image | 20140831 Cabot Strait, St Paul Island in the distance.jpg |
| alt | A view of the Cabot Strait from White Point, Cape Breton Island. St. Paul Island is visible in the distance. |
| caption | Cabot Strait from White Point, Cape Breton Island. St. Paul Island in the distance. |
| location | Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia & Newfoundland |
| coordinates | |
| type | Channel |
| part_of | Gulf of Saint Lawrence |
| oceans | Atlantic Ocean |
| basin_countries | Canada |
| date-built | |
| date-flooded | |
| length | 20 nmi |
| width | 70 nmi |
| max-depth | 550 m |
| islands | St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) |
| trenches | Laurentian Channel |
| pushpin_map | Canada |
| pushpin_label_position | |
| pushpin_map_caption | Cabot Strait |
| reference | Geographical Names of Canada - Cabot Strait |
| :: |
| name = Cabot Strait | native_name = | native_name_lang = | other_name = | image = 20140831 Cabot Strait, St Paul Island in the distance.jpg | alt = A view of the Cabot Strait from White Point, Cape Breton Island. St. Paul Island is visible in the distance. | caption = Cabot Strait from White Point, Cape Breton Island. St. Paul Island in the distance. | image_bathymetry = | alt_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | location = Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia & Newfoundland | group = | coordinates = | type = Channel | etymology = | part_of = Gulf of Saint Lawrence | inflow = | rivers = | outflow = | oceans = Atlantic Ocean | catchment = | basin_countries = Canada | agency = | designation = | date-built = | engineer = | date-flooded = | length = 20 nmi | width = 70 nmi | area = | depth = | max-depth = 550 m | volume = | residence_time = | salinity = | shore = | elevation = | temperature_high = | temperature_low = | frozen = | islands = St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) | islands_category = | sections = | trenches = Laurentian Channel | benches = | cities = | pushpin_map = Canada | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = Cabot Strait | website = | reference = Geographical Names of Canada - Cabot Strait
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Cabot_Strait.png" caption="The Cabot Strait lies north of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada."] ::
Cabot Strait |url=http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/CAFSC |title=Geographical Names of Canada - Cabot Strait |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date= 7 June 2018 (; , ) is in Atlantic Canada between Cape Ray, Newfoundland, and Cape North, Cape Breton Island. | editor-last = Aronovitch | editor-first = Davida | title = The Cabot Strait | url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cabot-strait/ | access-date = 7 June 2018 | encyclopedia = The Canadian Encyclopedia | year = 2013 | publisher = Anthony Wilson-Smith - Historica Canada The strait, approximately 110 kilometres wide, is the widest of the three outlets for the Gulf of Saint Lawrence into the Atlantic Ocean, the others being the Strait of Belle Isle and Strait of Canso. It is named for the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto.
Geography and geology
Bathymetry
The strait's bathymetry is varied, with the Laurentian Channel creating a deep trench through its centre, and comparatively shallow coastal waters closer to Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. These bathymetric conditions have been known by mariners to cause rogue waves.
The steep slope of the Laurentian Channel was the site of a disastrous submarine landslide at the southeastern end of the strait, triggered by the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake and leading to a tsunami that devastated communities along Newfoundland's south coast and parts of Cape Breton Island.
St. Paul Island
An infamous location in the strait for shipwrecks during the age of sail, St. Paul Island came to be referred to as the "Graveyard of the Gulf" (of St. Lawrence).
Shipping
A strategically important waterway throughout Canadian and Newfoundland history, the strait is also an important international shipping route, being the primary waterway linking the Atlantic with inland ports on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
In October 1942, German U-boat U-69 torpedoed and sank the unlit Newfoundland ferry , killing 137 people. Then on 25 November 1944 HMCS Shawinigan was torpedoed and sunk with all hands on board (91 crew) by .
In 1998, the Cypriot bulk carrier the split in half in the Cabot Strait while sailing from Rotterdam to Quebec with the loss of 21 lives on board.
Communications
The strait is crossed daily by the Marine Atlantic ferry service linking Channel-Port aux Basques and North Sydney. Ferries have been operating across the strait since 1898, and a submarine telegraph cable was laid in 1856 as part of the transatlantic telegraph cable project.
The Trans Canada Microwave system was extended to Newfoundland in 1959. To get it to Newfoundland, it was fed from Sydney, Nova Scotia to a repeater in Cape North that was 427 metres above sea-level. That allowed it cross the 127 kilometres across the Cabot Strait to a repeater station perched 198 metres above sea-level in Red Rocks, Newfoundland and Labrador. From there, the signal was microwaved over land to St. John's. | author = CP Staff | title = Trans-Canada "Microwave" Looms | work = The Kingston Whig-Standard | location = Kingston, Ontario | agency = The Canadian Press | page = 19 | date = 24 July 1957 | url = https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kingston-whig-standard-trans-canada/149996464/ | access-date = 24 June 2024 | via = Newspapers.com
References
;Notes
- Nautical chart #4022 - Cabot Strait and approaches / Détroit de Cabot et les approches), published by Canadian Hydrographic Service, 17 January 2003
References
- Bentley, Molly. (2009-05-03). "Ancient tsunami 'hit New York'". [[BBC]].
- "Caribou (Steam merchant) - Ships hit by U-boats - uboat.net".
- German, Tony. (1990). "The Sea is at our Gates : The History of the Canadian Navy". McClelland and Stewart Inc..
- (16 November 2000). "Ship owners sued for 1998 sinking". The Globe and Mail.
- (23 September 1956). "Micro-wave of the future". [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]].
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