Cape Race lightstation is on the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland. Its name is from Portuguese "raso" or "bare". Cape Race is a flat barren point of land jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean, its cliffs rising nearly vertically to 30.5 m. (100 ft) above sea level. On average it is shrouded in fog on 158 days of the year. Dense fog, rocky coasts, and its proximity to trans-Atlantic shipping routes have resulted in many shipwrecks near Cape Race.

In 1856, Trinity House installed the first lighthouse; a cast iron tower with a coal oil lamp turned by clockwork. It was replaced in 1907 by a 29 m. concrete tower and a light with a massive hyperradiant Fresnel lens made by Chance Brothers in England. The light's characteristic is a single white flash every 7.5 seconds, additionally a foghorn may sound a signal of two blasts every 60 seconds.

From 1859 to 1866, the New York City Associated Press kept a newsboat at Cape Race to meet ocean liners passing by on their way from Europe. News was telegraphed to New York under the byline "via Cape Race".

In 1904, the first wireless station in Newfoundland was built at Cape Race. On night of the April 14, 1912, RMS Titanic's wireless operator Jack Phillips was sending telegraphs to Cape Race for relay to New York City. When Cyril Evans, wireless operator on the SS Californian sent an iceberg warning to the Titanic, Phillips was annoyed by the "interference" and responded “Shut up, Shut up, I’m working Cape Race.” Titanic hit an iceberg 15 minutes later. Cape Race played a major role in relaying Titanic's distress signal and sending news of the disaster to New York.