La station de pilotage / The pilotage station

The St. Lawrence River was a dangerous waterway, and as early as 1815 several pilots based at Pointe-au-Père, then considered the gateway to the river, guided ships on to Québec City. Although the Corporation of Lower St. Lawrence Pilots was based at Bic, where ocean-going vessels took on and left their pilots prior to 1905, the Allan Line housed its special pilots at Pointe-au-Père beginning in 1859. As maritime traffic increased, the Department of Marine took over responsibility for pilotage, and in 1906 Pointe-au-Père became the official pilotage station. In 1909 a new lighthouse with a powerful beacon was built to guide shipping entering the estuary that needed a pilot, and a wireless telegraph station was added to complete the aids to navigation system. Traffic on the St. Lawrence fell during the Second World War but resumed in the 1950s, and in 1959, after the Seaway opened, the pilotage station moved to Les Escoumins, a site considered safer for winter navigation. During the war, from May 1942 to November 1944, ships on the St. Lawrence traveled in convoys, assembling off Bic for warship escort to Sydney, Nova Scotia, while Royal Canadian Air Force planes flew thousands of patrols watching for German submarines and ships sailed with all lights off. The wartime dangers touched Pointe-au-Père directly through Willem Koning. After the Dutch tanker Oscilla was torpedoed by an Italian submarine on March 16, 1942, one hundred fifty miles northeast of the British Antilles, Koning and other survivors were rescued by the American ship Explorer. On May 10, 1942, in Québec City, Koning and three other Oscilla survivors boarded the SS Leto, loaded with airplane engines and bound for England. On May 12, off Rivière-la-Madeleine, the SS Leto was also torpedoed; twelve people were killed, the survivors were rescued by the Dutch ship Titus, and Koning died as he was being taken aboard. His body was brought to Pointe-au-Père and buried in the unconsecrated section of the cemetery.

Quebec · Canada