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Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula
Avalon Peninsula

The Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland .The peninsula is home to 248,418 people , and is the location of the provincial capital, St....
 on the island of Newfoundland, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
 name for this cape, "Raso", or "bare". The Cape appeared on early sixteenth century maps as Cape Raso and its name may derive from a cape of the same name at the mouth of the Tagus River in Portugal.

e fogs, rocky coasts, and its proximity to trans-Atlantic shipping routes have resulted in many shipwreck
Shipwreck

A shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, either in it having sunk or been Beaching . A shipwreck can refer to a wrecked ship or to the event that caused the wreck, such as the striking of something that causes the ship to sink, the stranding of the ship on rocks, land or shoal, or the destruction of the ship at sea by vio...
s near Cape Race over the years.






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Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula
Avalon Peninsula

The Avalon Peninsula is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland .The peninsula is home to 248,418 people , and is the location of the provincial capital, St....
 on the island of Newfoundland, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese
Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
 name for this cape, "Raso", or "bare". The Cape appeared on early sixteenth century maps as Cape Raso and its name may derive from a cape of the same name at the mouth of the Tagus River in Portugal.

Geography

Dense fogs, rocky coasts, and its proximity to trans-Atlantic shipping routes have resulted in many shipwreck
Shipwreck

A shipwreck is the remains of a ship that has wrecked, either in it having sunk or been Beaching . A shipwreck can refer to a wrecked ship or to the event that caused the wreck, such as the striking of something that causes the ship to sink, the stranding of the ship on rocks, land or shoal, or the destruction of the ship at sea by vio...
s near Cape Race over the years. One of the most famous was the . Cape Race is a flat barren point of land jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, its cliffs rising nearly vertically to 30.5 m (100 ft) above sea level. On average it is shrouded in fog on 158 days of the year. Located next to Trepassey.

Lighthouse


In 1856, the first lighthouse
Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens or, in older times, from a fire and used as an aid to navigation and to Maritime pilot at sea....
 was installed by the British Government's Trinity House
Trinity House

The Corporation of Trinity House is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters . It is responsible for the provision and maintenance of navigational aids such as lighthouses, lightvessels, buoys and maritime radio/satellite communication systems....
. It was a cast iron
Cast iron

Cast iron usually refers to Gray iron, but also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys, which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy....
 tower with a coal oil lamp turned by clockwork
Clockwork

A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a device powered by the energy of a wound spring released through a series of gears....
. It was replaced in 1907 by a 29 metres tall concrete tower and a light with a massive hyperradiant Fresnel lens
Hyperradiant Fresnel lens

Hyperradiant fresnel lenses are fresnel lenses larger than "first order" lenses, so they are larger than 12 feet tall and 6 feet across, with a focal length larger than 36 inches ....
 made by Chance Brothers
Chance Brothers

Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands , England.The Chance family originated in Bromsgrove as farmers and craftsmen before setting up business in Smethwick in 1824....
 in England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. The original lighthouse was then moved to Cape North; it now stands in front of the Canada Science and Technology Museum
Canada Science and Technology Museum

The Canada Science and Technology Museum is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on St. Laurent Boulevard, to the south of the Queensway ....
 in Ottawa
Ottawa

Ottawa is the Capital of Canada. The city has population of 812,000, the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population municipality in the country and second largest in Ontario....
. The light's characteristic is a single white flash every 7.5 seconds, additionally a foghorn
Foghorn

A foghorn or "fog signal" or "fog bell" is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of hazards in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport....
 may sound a signal of two blasts every 60 seconds. There is also a high-power LORAN-C transmitter
Cape Race LORAN-C transmitter

The Cape Race LORAN-C transmitter is a LORAN-C transmitter at Cape Race, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.The Cape Race LORAN-C transmitter was used as an Radio masts and towers until February 2, 1993....
 at Cape Race, whose mast was until the completion of CN Tower
CN Tower

The CN Tower, located in Downtown Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a communications and observation tower standing tall. It surpassed the height of the Ostankino Tower while still under construction in 1975, becoming the List of tallest freestanding structures in the world in the world....
 the tallest structure of Canada.

History

Caperacestamp
From 1859 to 1866, the New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 Associated Press kept a newsboat at Cape Race to meet ocean liners passing by on their way from Europe so that news could be telegraphed to New York. These news items carried the byline "via Cape Race".

In 1904, the first wireless
Wireless

Wireless communication is the transfer of information over a distance without the use of electrical conductors or "wires". The distances involved may be short or long ....
 station in Newfoundland was built at Cape Race. This was one of the major land-based locations that received the distress call from the RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic

The Royal Mail Ship Titanic was an Olympic class ocean liner superliner owned by the White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland....
, the other being, at least according to legend, the Marconi telegraph station on top of the Wanamaker's
Wanamaker's

Wanamaker's department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the first department stores in the United States....
 department store in New York City. On the night the Titanic sank, wireless operator Jack Phillips was sending telegraphs to Cape Race for relay to New York City. When Cyril Evans, wireless operator of the SS Californian
SS Californian

SS Californian was a Leyland Line steamship that is best known for the controversy surrounding its location during the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912....
, sent an iceberg warning to the Titanic, only a few miles away, Phillips was annoyed with the loud signal (due to the proximity) and responded “Shut up, Shut up, I’m working Cape Race.” This would become a famous incident, as the bored Evans soon went to sleep, and Titanic hit an iceberg only fifteen minutes later. After Titanic's distress call, Cape Race played a major role in relaying news of the sinking to other ships and land locations.

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