Immigration Portal Main Page This section of our website has been constructed to help you, the visitor to this link, to get a better idea of the lifestyle and services that Channel-Port aux Basques offers you and your families as immigrants to our community. Please log on to the various links and hopefully, you'll find the answers to your questions about Channel-Port aux Basques. In the event that you need additional information, don't hesitate to contact the Economic Development Strategist for the town at any of the following means: E-mail:
[email protected] Telephone: (709) 695-2214 Fax: (709) 695-9852 Regular mail: Town of Channel-Port aux Basques 67 Main Street P.O. Box 70 Channel-Port aux Basques, NL. A0M 1C0 History Channel-Port aux Basques, the Gateway to Newfoundland, has been welcoming visitors for 500 years, from Basque Fisherman in the 1500's who found the ice free harbour a safe haven, to ferry passengers who commenced arriving on the "Bruce" steamship in 1898 to take the railway across the island. The area was actually settled on a year-round basis until fisher-folk from the Channel Islands established Channel in the early 1700's, although people had been working the south coast fishery year-round for a century before this. The name Port aux Basques came into common usage from 1764 onwards following surveys of Newfoundland and undertaken by Captain James Cook on behalf of the British Admiralty. Captain Cook went on to fame, if not fortune, as a result of his surveys in the Pacific Ocean, but it was he who surveyed the St.