The Strait of Canso (also Gut of Canso or Canso Strait, also called Straits of Canceau or Canseaux until the early 20th century) separates mainland

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

and

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

, in eastern Canada. It is a channel approximately 27 kilometers long and averaging 3 kilometers wide (1 km at its narrowest). The strait connects

Chedabucto Bay Chedabucto Bay is a large bay on the eastern coast of mainland Nova Scotia between the Atlantic Ocean and the Strait of Canso next to Guysborough County. At the entrance to Chedabucto Bay is the community of Canso at the head is the communi ...

on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to St. George's Bay on the

Northumberland Strait The Northumberland Strait (French: ''détroit de Northumberland'') is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western sho ...

, a subbasin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The strait is (200+ feet) deep, with two significant communities at

Port Hawkesbury Port Hawkesbury (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Chlamhain'') is a municipality in southern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. While within the historical county of Inverness, it is not part of the Municipality of Inverness County. Their sl ...

on the eastern side facing Mulgrave on the western side, both ports. The strait is crossed by the

Canso Causeway The Canso Causeway () is a rock-fill causeway crossing the Strait of Canso, provides access by road to the Atlantic Ocean, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence or Cape Breton Island to the Nova Scotia peninsula. Its crest thickness is , carrying t ...

for vehicular and rail traffic, opened in 1955. The

Canso Canal The Canso Canal is a short canal located in Nova Scotia, Canada. Canal location The Canso Canal is in the Strait of Canso, on the eastern side of the Canso Causeway, a rock-fill causeway which opened in 1955 to carry a 2-lane highway and a si ...

allows ships to pass through the causeway, and this can accommodate any vessel capable of transiting the

St. Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway () is a system of rivers, locks, canals and channels in Eastern Canada and Northern United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland ...

. An account of early settlement in the area is given in the letters of resident

Henry Nicholas Paint Henry Nicholas Paint (10 April 1830 – 29 September 1921) was a Canadian politician, shipowner and merchant. Career Henry Paint was the son of Nicholas Paint, JP, by Mary Le Messurier, both of old Guernsey families which had been trading ...

(1830–1921), Member of Parliament for Richmond county and merchant, whose father Nicholas secured valuable land grants and settled in a stone-built house at Belle Vue in 1817. Port Hawkesbury, at first known as Ship Harbour, emerged as a shipbuilding and boatbuilding port on the Strait in the 19th century with firms such as H.W. Embree and Sons producing distinctive fishing boats that came to be known as "Canso Boats" after the Strait.

References

External links

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Strait of Canso - Economic Development Studies
(online collection of studies of the Strait of Canso area) {{Coord, 45, 35, 50, N, 61, 22, 38, W, display=title, region:CA_type:waterbody_source:dewiki_scale:250000 Canso Landforms of Antigonish County, Nova Scotia Landforms of Guysborough County, Nova Scotia Landforms of Inverness County, Nova Scotia Landforms of Richmond County, Nova Scotia Straits of the Atlantic Ocean Geographic regions of Nova Scotia