Red Bay

Basque whalers crossed to Labrador each summer from the 1530s, killing right and bowhead whales and rendering the oil for European lamps; Red Bay was the largest station, with perhaps six hundred men in season. It was forgotten until Selma Barkham, a Canadian historian, read Basque notarial archives in Spain in the 1970s and worked out where the ships had gone; excavation followed and found try-works, cooperages, a cemetery and, underwater, the San Juan, a galleon that sank in 1565 and is the best-preserved sixteenth-century whaling ship known. UNESCO listed the site in 2013.

The main sights

• The San Juan story - a 1565 galleon found on the harbour floor.
• The try-works - the ovens where whale blubber was rendered to oil.
• The archival detective work - how reading Spanish records located the site.
• Saddle Island - the working station site, reached by a short boat crossing.

When to go

June to September; the site closes for winter and the Labrador Straits ferry runs seasonally. Fog is frequent. Icebergs pass in early summer.

Good to know

The San Juan itself remains on the seabed and is not visible; the museum shows a replica and finds. Reaching Labrador requires a ferry from Newfoundland. The site closes for winter.

Nearby

Point Amour lighthouse lies west; Battle Harbour is east.