Routes

In the time of the French Regime, the Northern Channel from Cap aux Oies to Île d'Orléans was well known to navigators. In the early 18th century, there was little traffic on the river. From 1710 to 1725, only three ocean-going ships moored at the Port of Quebec. The number of ships then rapidly increased. Between 1755 and 1760, the Port welcomed 207 ships from France. It therefore became necessary to set up pilot stations in the St. Lawrence Estuary. Two locations were designated as staging areas for pilots: Île du Bic in 1730 and Île Verte in 1731. Pilots would board the King's ships and use their expert knowledge to guide them along the river. Merchant ships relied on the services of Canadian mariners, who also farmed the land on Île aux Coudres, to guide them through the Northern Channel.

After 1760, under the British Regime, navigation was more strictly regulated. The shipping channel was clearly marked, and pilots were required to hold a licence. In 1768, Governor Guy Carleton ordered French Canadian pilots to learn to navigate the Southern Channel, from Pointe aux Orignaux to Île d'Orléans.

This replica of the HMS Bounty, a British Royal Navy frigate built in 1784, sailed the St. Lawrence in 2011. Pilot Jean Cloutier guided the tall ship from Les Escoumins to Québec. The replica was built in 1960 for the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon Brando. The replica of the HMS Bounty came to a tragic end on October 29, 2012, when the three-masted ship sank off Cape Hatteras during Hurricane Sandy. The captain and a crew member perished in the wreck.

In the 19th century, most ships took the Southern Channel. The Pilier-de-Pierre, Île Verte and Île Bicquette lighthouses pointed the way along the channel. In this period, the Northern Channel between Cap aux Oies and Île d'Orléans was not well known. The Trinity House of Quebec did not install buoys along the Northern Channel until after 1851.

In the mid-18th century, pilots would await the King's ships at Île du Bic and Île Verte. In the early 19th century, the Trinity House of Quebec set up a pilot station at Pointe-au-Père, since pilots tended to go further east to rendezvous with ships.

In 1859, the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company set up a telegraph line between Quebec City and the Pointe-au-Père station. As of 1861, Pointe-au-Père served as a boarding station for specialized pilots who worked aboard trans-Atlantic steam liners.

In 1905, the Department of Marine and Fisheries took over management of pilot boats serving Pointe-au-Père, the only pilot boarding station downstream of Quebec City. The sailing schooners that previously carried pilots were replaced by iron-hulled pilot boats: the Champlain (1905), the Eureka (1906), the Jalobert (1923), the Abraham Martin (1928) and the Citadelle (1936).

Starting in 1934, pilots gradually stopped using the Southern Channel because weather conditions along the North Shore were more favourable for shipping in spring and fall. Between 1957 to 1960, it was therefore decided to move the pilot station from Pointe-au-Père to Les Escoumins. This decision was based on increased usage of the Northern Channel, the advent of winter ocean shipping and increased traffic on the St. Lawrence after the opening of the Seaway in 1959.

On April 8, 1960, the pilot station was moved to a temporary site on the North Shore of the St. Lawrence: the wharf at Les Escoumins. A permanent station was set up on August 16, 1860 at L'Anse aux Basques, a little more than 3 km south-west of Les Escoumins. This station was manned by the Corporation of Lower St. Lawrence Pilots. Pilot boats carried pilots from the station to the ships.

The Corporation of Lower St. Lawrence Pilots provides service along the Saguenay River as well as between Les Escoumins and Quebec.