Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair MHA Lisa Dempster is part of a Canadian delegation in Spain’s Basque Country to take part in preparations for the San Juan Bound for Canada event.
A replica of the San Juan, a 16th-century galleon, is now under construction and is scheduled to recreate a transatlantic voyage from Spain to Red Ray, Labrador in 2026.
(Photo via Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.)
The former Basque whaling station in Red Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Historic Site. The Basque went to the area in the 1500s to hunt right and bowhead whales, which were rendered for their oil.
It was the first large-scale whale oil production facility in the world. The San Juan is among a number of galleons which sank off the coast of Red Bay, one of the most important underwater archaeological sites in the Americas.
