Strait of Canso

The Strait of Canso is a narrow channel separating Cape Breton Island from the Nova Scotia mainland. It joins the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic, providing a passage between wooded shores. Near its Atlantic approaches, the Canso Islands attracted European fishing crews and Mi'kmaq trading partners; the latter had visited the islands for many centuries. In 1744 an expedition from Louisbourg attacked the British fishing settlement on Grassy Island and burned it.