New-York tribune., 1903-04-26
ON CO4ST OF LABRADOR.
RcHef Work of DR.. GrenfeH, of
Hospital Ship Srathcona.

The man who has done more than perhaps
any other for the souls and bodies Of the twenty
twenty-five thousand fisher folk, resident and
otherwise, of the coast of Labrador is now in
New-YCrk
He is one of stocky strength, with face
tronzed by ten more years at sea, with the
steady. clear eyes of with mission i'll life,
and with a reddish mustache and accent
which tells of his English birth. He is cap
tain, surgeon and preacher of the faith unde-
3ominational and all three are needed in the
hork to which he has devoted himself. His
name is Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell and he is diree
aor of the Canadian branch of the Royal Ma
tonaI Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen
The steamship which Dr. Grenfell commands
is the steel hospital vessel Strathcona, built and
equipped three years ago largely from funds
supplied by Lord Strathcona, now the Canadian
High Commissioner in London. At present she
is in winter quarters, waiting until the Strait
of Belle Isle thaws out and the Labrador shore
glaciers cease casting off fantastic bergs of ice.
Early in June her blue flag viii be unfurled, and
she viii cruise up and down the coast and out
to the banks where the fishing fleets gather.
When not engaged in relieving physical suffer-
ing by giving out medicine, performing opera
tions and supplying quarters for those danger
ously i'll in the comfortable floating hospital,
the deep sea missionaries will hold services
and give out clothing to the lonely folks who
dwell along the bleak shore and who are ever
in dire need.
1t was ten years ago that DR.. GrenfeH first
visited the Labrador coast on his mission of
mercy. He commanded the hospital ship AL
bert and on three months cruise treated 900
patients and held innumerable Gospel meetings,
many of them in hamlets never before visited
by missionaries
Since 1892 the work has gone steadily on
though vessels have been destroyed by the ice
and the missionary doctors have suffered. There
are now five shore hospitals, one of which is
kept open all winter. Cooperative stores are
operated in connection with of the sta
tions, and in the poorest district there is a
Bawmill, which gives employment to the hard
pressed These institutions help the ma
tives TO escape the evils of the truck sys-
tenn.
The records of any of DR.. Grenfells sum-
mer cruises would fill book and move its read
ers almost to telrs They have filed books, in
fact, for this deep sea missionary is writer as
well.
Labrador is word to conjure with in hot
weather. 1t signifies to the average mind all
that is cold and icy. To the initiated it stands
for bleak coast, where men, women and chill
dren-white, Indian and Esquimau-fght
bravely the battle of life in the face of untold
hardshps and just succeed in living miserably
and little, very little, more.
They come in every variety of vessel said
DR. Grenfell in describing the influx for the
summer fishing; small and 'arge; good, bad and
Indifferent; mostly of the schooner type. Be
sides the crew. which varies from five to ten
men and one or two women, most Newfound-
land vessels bring 4 number of people called
freighters' These landed at various har-
bors. where they have left mud huts and boats
the previous year and where they will fish all
summer. These persons cure their fish ON the
spot Meanwhile the vessel goes on further
north to seek fish for herself When they come