The bark Colborne left London on August 30, 1838, bound for Quebec with a cargo of spirits, palm oil, and tallow. Built and launched just months earlier in Montreal, the Colborne would not survive the voyage. At 1:00 a.m., Thursday, October 16, it struck rock, seven miles below Port Daniel. Heavy seas washed over her, taking with it forty-two of the fifty-four crew and passengers. The remaining twelve clung to the rigging until morning when they were rescued by two schooners. Captain Kent and the first mate were among those lost. The second mate, along with eight crew members and three passengers were taken to Port Daniel.

Two lighthouses were built in Port Daniel roughly seventy years later.

The first was built in 1902 at the outer end of the 425-foot-long pubic wharf at White Point, and the following Notice to Mariners advertised the new light:

A lighthouse was put in operation on October 15, 1902, on the outer end of the wharf at this port, and is a square wooden building with sloping sides, surmounted by a square wooden lantern, the whole painted white. It is 29 feet high from the top of the wharf to the ventilator on the lantern. the light being fixed white dioptric, elevated 35 feet above high water mark, and visible 11 miles from all points of approach by water. The lighthouse was erected by the department, under the supervision of Mr. P. A. Perron, at a cost of $794.47.

George McInnis was hired as the first keeper of the wharf light at an annular salary of $60. In 1904, the tower was moved 100 feet to the outer end of the recently extended wharf. A hand-operated horn was introduced at this time to answer signals from steamers in the vicinity of the station during times of fog.

The second lighthouse, a white, octagonal wooden tower with a height of thirty-three feet, was constructed at West Point in 1906, seventy-five yards from the eastern extremity of the point. At the opening of navigation in 1907, the tower commenced exhibiting its fixed white light, produced by petroleum vapour burned under an incandescent mantle. As the point was roughly seventy feet above the bay, the light had a focal plane of 100 feet. Messrs. Chapados & Robichaud, of Gascon, built the lighthouse under a $900 contract.

The wooden tower at West Point was destroyed by fire, prompting the erection of a twenty-two-foot-tall concrete tower in its place. Work on the new lighthouse commenced in 1917 and was completed the following year at a cost of $1,690.80. In the interim, a provisional light was shown from the point in the form of a lens lantern atop a pole.

The octagonal concrete lighthouse continues to warn mariners of the dangerous reefs along the western approach to Port Daniel Bay, but it is now powered by electricity, with a signature of a white flash every five seconds. The all-white tower topped by a red lantern contains a spiral red iron staircase that leads to the lantern room.

The wooden tower on the wharf at Port Daniel was active through at least 1960. Today, there is no evidence of the wharf.

Port Daniel reportedly received its name when Jacques Cartier gave his navigator the order "Port, Daniel" during a violent storm on Chaleur Bay. Charles Daniel, the navigator, obeyed, and the ship safely entered the protected waters of what is now Port Daniel Bay.

Keepers: George McInnis (1902 – 1906), F.H. Langlois (1907 – 1913), M. McInnis (1914 – at least 1923).

References

1. Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, various years.
2. The Gulf and River St. Lawrence, U.S. Hydrograhic Office, 1908.
3. St. Lawrence Pilot, 1917.
4. Chaleur Chalets Resort website.

No light exists at this location today.

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