Gulf Museum
The present building which houses the Gulf Museum was built in 1946 and operated as the "Twin Town Hotel" and was owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs Reginald Sheaves until it was bought by Mr. and Mrs Douglas Hann and operated as Hann's Tourist Home. The Home was later bought from the Hann estate by the Town of Port aux Basques and Passed over to the Southwest Coast Historical Society to be used as a Museum.
The Gulf Museum has many items on display, the most significant being the two 17th century Astrolabes. The Astrolabe was used by navigators to find a ships position at sea by helping to determine the line of latitude. In time it was replaced by the sextant. There are only four mariner's Aatrolabes recorded in Canada and three of these are in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Due to their excellent condition in spite of being submerged for 350 years the Gulf Museaum can be proud of owning two National Historic Treasures. The Astrolabes were found in 1981 at a shipwreck site near the coastal community of Isle aux Morte by local scuba diver Wayne Mushrow.
Mushrow Astrolabe I is dated 1628 and has the markings O/Y DYAS which are the same as those on an astrolabe recovered from a Spanish shipwreck in the Caribbean. Mushrow Astrolabe II is dated 1617 and is inscribed with the name Adrian Holland. It was made in France and is the only one of its kind in the world.