The path of the canal traverses Voorne, with one end at the eastern harbor of Hellevoetsluis and the other near Heenvliet.

[1] The hamlet Nieuwesluis and the northern lock have been demolished and have disappeared below what is now the southern bank of the Seinehaven.

The current Voorne Canal ends at a point just east of the Fortress of Hellevoetsluis on the south coast of Voorne-Putten.

This effectively closes down the section between the shopping center and the dam for all but the lowest recreational boats.

Today, the canal is a favorite spot of anglers, and is a famous place to catch big common breams.

In the middle of the eighteenth century, the Nieuwe Maas, the main connection between Rotterdam and the sea, began to silt up.

By the early nineteenth century, there were multiple waterways from Rotterdam to the sea:[2] As the short routes silted up, they remained suitable only for ships that had a draft of somewhat over 3 m.[3] In general, this forced ocean-going ships to take the longest route, i.e. the huge detour over the Haringvliet, Hollands Diep, Dordtsche Kil and Oude Maas to reach the last stretch of the Nieuwe Maas before Rotterdam.

The detours over Dordrecht not only made the road to sea about three times as long, it also required different winds and multiple tides to sail the zigzag route, which led to even more delay.

Even on the long route, ships with a draft of slightly over 20 feet could not be brought before the city without transloading part of the cargo.

[6] In his original design, the canal would end at the wet dock of Hellevoetluis, and be wide enough to allow ships of the line to retreat inland to Rotterdam.

[14] In June 1829 the construction of a brick watermill and several other drainage facilities for the surrounding polders was tendered.

The relatively small scale of the project is shown by comparing this to the estimated cost of the North Sea Canal, which was 27,630,000 guilders.

This diverted a lot of maritime traffic from Antwerp to Rotterdam, especially that to the Dutch overseas colonies.

At 11:30 am the war frigate Ceres left the Rijkswerf Rotterdam, towed by the royal steamyacht De Leeuw, and was in the Nieuwesluis lock at 4:30 pm.

On the morrow, favorable circumstances allowed 18 horses to draw Ceres through the canal in two hours.

The year 1833 was very bad due to the blockade of the Dutch coast by the French and English navies.

On the canal there were raft bridges vlotbrug at Nieuwen-Hoornschen Dijk, Ravensche weg and Wilweg.

[44] While the Voorne Canal was built for and suitable for sailing ships of the time, it did not realize its full potential.

[45] By 1858, the normal high water level of the Goereesche Gat was only 5.7 m and required an experienced pilot to cross it.

To the south of the sea arm that gave access to Hellevoetsluis, was the island of Goeree or Westvoorne, with the village Goedereede.

South of this island was the natural canal Brouwershavensche Gat, with a depth of 11.80 m at high tide.

[35] After 1855, the Hellegat (east of Ooltgensplaat) of 5.2 m high tide depth became usable again, and the majority of ships took the inside route.

[48] In 1857 the Ministry of the Interior appointed a commission to advise about improving the access from Rotterdam to the sea.

[61] On 23 January 1863 the law to construct the North Sea Canal and the Nieuwe Waterweg was approved.

[63] Meanwhile the 1857 advice to immediately improve the locks of the Voorne Canal had not been heeded, and this turned out badly.

The use of the Nieuwesluis lock prevented saltier water from the canal from entering the Nieuwe Maas.

[1] The almost total elimination of shipping on the canal by the final success of the Nieuwe Waterweg in about 1883 was of course disastrous for Hellevoetsluis.

If a storm pushed up the sea at Hellevoetsluis, the excess water of the polders would be discharged through the Nieuwesluis lock.

The closure of the Haringvliet in 1970 meant that the sluice function of the Hellevoetsluis lock had to be replaced with a pumping station.

[73] After World War II, the old fortress town Helvoet first expanded to the north in the direction of Nieuw-Helvoet.