Cape Chidley is a headland located on the eastern shore of

Killiniq Island Killiniq Island (English: ''ice floes'') is a remote island in southeastern Nunavut and northern Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Located at the extreme northern tip of Labrador between Ungava Bay and the Labrador Sea, it is notable in that it ...

, Canada, at the northeastern tip of the

Labrador Peninsula The Labrador Peninsula, also called Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, is a large peninsula in eastern Canada. It is bounded by Hudson Bay to the west, the Hudson Strait to the north, the Labrador Sea to the east, Strait of Belle Isle and the Gulf of ...

. Cape Chidley was named by English explorer John Davis on August 1, 1587, after his friend and fellow explorer John Chidley. On October 22, 1943, the landed just south of Cape Chidley and set up Weather Station Kurt to collect data about the weather. In the original plans for the

Pinetree Line The Pinetree Line was a series of radar stations located across southern Canada at about the 50th parallel north, along with a number of other stations located on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Run by North American Aerospace Defense Comm ...

(a series of radar stations along the

50th parallel north Following are circles of latitude between the 45th parallel north and the 50th parallel north: 46th parallel north The 46th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 46 degree (angle), degrees true north, north of the Earth, Earth's equat ...

), Cape Chidley was meant to be the site for a long-range radar station called "N-30". Supplies were moved to the site by ship during 1951–52, but in late 1952–early 1953 the site was moved to Resolution Island.The Pinetree Line
The Mystery of Site N-30
Oct, 2002

Location

Sometimes spelled ''Cape Chudleigh'', Cape Chidley is on the short boundary between the province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

and the territory of

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

on Killiniq Island. It forms the northernmost point of

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

. The

Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland was a British dominion in eastern North America, today the modern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It included the island of Newfoundland, and Labrador on the continental mainland. Newfoundland was one of the orig ...

, having been a separate country at the time that Canada's Arctic islands were assigned in this manner, shared a boundary with Canada on Killiniq Island. The territory of Labrador included the entire Atlantic watershed of the Labrador Peninsula and its islands. The northern and western part of Killiniq Island (under Nunavut's jurisdiction) drains into

Ungava Bay Ungava Bay (; , ; /) is a bay in Nunavut, Canada separating Nunavik (far northern Quebec) from Baffin Island. Although not geographically apparent, it is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. The bay is roughly oval-shaped, about at its widest p ...

and the

Hudson Strait Hudson Strait () in Nunavut links the Atlantic Ocean and the Labrador Sea to Hudson Bay in Canada. This strait lies between Baffin Island and Nunavik, with its eastern entrance marked by Cape Chidley in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut ...

. Thus Cape Chidley is also the terminus of the

Laurentian Divide The Laurentian Divide also called the Northern Divide and locally the '' height of land'', is a continental divide in central North America that separates the Hudson Bay watershed to the north from the Gulf of Mexico watershed to the south and ...

, which separates the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

from 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 ...

watershed. (Some sources include

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

in the Atlantic Ocean watershed, though the Laurentian Divide has been long established and places Hudson Bay with the Arctic Ocean watershed.) The cape marks the south end of the entrance to the Hudson Strait, opposite Resolution Island. The closest community to Cape Chidley was Port Burwell, Nunavut, until it was evacuated in 1978. Killiniq Island itself is separated from mainland North America by the narrow McLelan Strait. The Torngat Mountains run along the coast of Labrador and terminate at Killiniq Island. The top of the knoll forming the headland at Cape Chidley has an elevation of , making the cape considerably higher than either of its two flanking headlands. The Cape Chidley Islands lie at the north end of the cape.

References

External links

Pictures of Cape Chidley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chidley, Cape Chidley Chidley Borders of Newfoundland and Labrador Borders of Nunavut

Location

References

Further reading

External links