There are some places along the Labrador Coast that feel like they have remained untouched by man. Yet intrepid settlers like Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, (28 February 1865 – 9 October 1940), not only visited these far corners but also set up medical missions in this Nunatsiavut Settlement Area. His story is shared on Wikipedia:
“The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen sent Grenfell to Newfoundland in 1892 to improve the plight of coastal inhabitants and fishermen. That mission began in earnest in 1892 when he recruited two nurses and two doctors for hospitals at Indian Harbour, Newfoundland and later opened cottage hospitals along the coast of Labrador. The mission expanded greatly from its initial mandate to one of developing schools, an orphanage, cooperatives, industrial work projects, and social work. Although founded to serve the local area, the mission developed to include the aboriginal peoples and settlers along the coasts of Labrador and the eastern side of the Great Northern Peninsula of northern Newfoundland. One of the children Grenfell assisted was an Inuit girl, Kirkina, for whom he helped secure artificial limbs and later the Grenfell Mission educated her in nursing and midwifery.
In 1907, Grenfell imported a group of 300 reindeer from Norway to provide food and serve as draft animals in Newfoundland. Unbeknownst to him, some of the animals carried a parasitic roundworm, Elaphostrongylus rangiferi, that then spread to native caribou herds. The reindeer herd eventually disappeared; however, the parasite took hold and causes cerebrospinal elaphostrongylosis (CSE) in caribou, a disease well known in reindeer in Scandinavia.
In 1908, Grenfell was on his way with his dogs to a Newfoundland village for a medical emergency when he got caught in “slob”, from which he managed to get onto an ice-pan with the dogs. He was forced to sacrifice some of his dogs to make a warm, fur coat for himself. After drifting for several hours without food or fresh water, he was rescued by some villagers in the area. Because of this experience, he buried the dogs and put up a plaque saying, “Who gave their lives for me.”
He married Anne Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan (died 1938) of Chicago, Illinois, in 1909. They had three children and retired to Vermont after his work in Newfoundland.”
Beneath the surface, the marine life is colourful and abundant. Anemones, crabs, and jellyfish rule the territory with a vibrant palette that makes the tropics look pale.
